Dragons: Oneshots of Berk
by Check it bonsly
Summary: A collection of oneshots of varying length about the latest film. Contains major spoilers for HTTYD2: you have been warned.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n: Okay, I may or may not have ever-so-slightly watched HTTYD 2, and I just have a lot of feelings, okay? So I'm sharing them with you via the medium of fanfic. This movie has crushed my soul, and pretty significant spoilers are abound, so be wary of that. **

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Toothless was under some sort of... mind control. The alpha... it had him - Drago's bewilderbeast, a monster of a creature. And he was ready to attack. Toothless, ready to attack... me.

It's insane - I know - but it was happening... he was ready to kill me, blast me to naught but a smear on the rocks like I'd seen him do to so many boulders... the Green Death...

"Toothless..." Even if there was no hope, I had to try. For Toothless; for me. "Buddy..."

No amount of pleading, soft words, meaningful looks could save me now. I placed my hands out regardless - Vikings and their stubbornness issues damning me to stay, not shift out of the way and let the slowly charging shot fire harmlessly into the ice behind it.

How I wish I had.

"Come on, bud," I begged, looking into his eyes - barely slits, now - desperately. "It's me -"

Toothless growled around the fire emanating from his throat. I glanced sideways - my sword had fallen somewhere out of grasp, but where? - and scanned the area quickly. My last idea was gone, lost in the carnage that was the battle around me. But none of that mattered. Not anymore.

"Hiccup!"

Stoick. Dad. "Wait!" I shouted, sparing time to glance across. _Time. I need more time._ There wasn't enough to stop Stoick and calm Toothless. I needed to decide which to -

Too late; the decision was made for me. I'll do neither, and be shoved out of the way of the incoming blast.

I didn't get to see what happened; Stoick's shove forced me onto the ice, and that stuff's hard enough to give some serious headaches, especially when your head slams into it with such speed.

But there's no time to worry about that - concussions can wait. I needed to see what happened. Where's Stoick?

"Dad?" Suddenly, everything's blurred. I pushed myself up and made my way over to dad. He hasn't moved, he -

"No." _He can't be._ But even as I stumbled over, deep down, I knew.

Valka was there too, by the time my shaking legs have co-operated enough to let me get to him. I collapsed again as soon as I did, knees sinking to the floor as the weight of what might just have happened sank down on me.

Valka - _mum, I need to start calling her that - _has pressed her head against her husband's chest. _Gods - she only got to see him for, what? An hour? _I could tell from the moment her head rested what her announcement would be.

He was dead.

My father - chief of the tribe, undefeatable and stubborn as they come, with just enough sentiment to care for his wife and child, selfless enough to sacrifice himself for me -

For me. _It's my fault. _I realised grimly, staring at Stoick's body - corpse, now _Oh Gods _in equal parts horror and disbelief. _Oh Gods. _Gone. He was gone. Valk - mum looked to me, sad nod confirming what I already - _Oh, Gods - _knew.

"No..." I whispered, so quietly I may as well have mouthed it. Now, people were beginning to notice. Something was wrong, and the Berkians in the battle knew it. Their loyalty to the chief - _previous chief, _I reminded myself, _I'm chief now... _- easily overrode the call to battle. They would come; they would grieve; they would pity.

Toothless was the first to summon the courage to walk over, crooning sadly as he did. Toothless, the one who'd -

Something snapped.

"Go away," I spat, misdirected anger fuelling my words. Tears brimmed my eyes as I continued, spitting hate at my best friend.

Eventually, Toothless got the message. I watched, still glaring, as he turned, head bowed in shame as he walked off. _Good. _A part of me thought, _He killed dad._

Valka's reminder brought me back; it wasn't Toothless's fault. "Good dragons, in the hands of bad people, do bad things."

No dragons are bad. Toothless didn't want to do that. He couldn't help it, couldn't fight it. I was supposed to help him snap out of it. I failed him, failed dad. Failed the tribe.

The reverie I had worked myself into was broken by the familiar flapping of wings. Dragons' wings. Drago had succeeded; he was on his way to Berk.

Oh Gods, Berk. The islanders had no idea of what was coming. And -_ Toothless!_

Drago was riding Toothless, now back under the alpha's control. I stood, prepared to run after them and jump onto one of the dragons' backs if I had to, but Valka's gentle touch held me back.

I'd lost my father... and my best friend.

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**I'll keep updating these as I think of them. Sorry for potentially rubbish quality, but _dragons, _guys, _dragons._**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n: Another one, already. I know - it's ridiculous... and I'm well on the way to finish another... I have a problem... but still, I apologise for nothing! Except perhaps terrible plots, ooc-ness and bad writing, but still... _dragons._**

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Berk was farther away than he'd first thought.

That was the first thing that occurred to Hiccup as he, Gobber, his unlikely group of friends and vigilante-dragon-liberation woman of a mother flew in chase of Drago.

He had managed to shake the grief, for now, of his father's death, instead deciding to concentrate on people - or dragons - that were still alive for him to save.

"Are you okay?"

Thank the gods for Astrid, and her amazing perceptiveness. "Yeah," Hiccup said, shifting his grip on the baby dragon, "I..."

Astrid understood what the unfinished sentence meant, even if Hiccup himself couldn't quite articulate the jumbled thoughts bouncing around his skull. There were so many, and so fast, that at times it was almost as though he wasn't thinking anything at all.

"You're doing great," she reassured him, strained smile wavering slightly as her eyes betrayed her concern. "You couldn't have stopped this; you know that, right?"

Hiccup nodded, sighing slightly. "Now's not the time..." he said slowly, taking his eyes from Astrid to glance at the mist-shrouded course ahead.

"I think it's a great time," Astrid insisted, gaze still boring into him when his back was turned. "It's not like we have anything better to do, and we won't get to Berk for a while."

"Dragon!"

No sooner than the words had left Astrid's mouth, the universe brought the correction to her statement. This time, it was in the form of a thunderdrum.

"Great," Hiccup said sarcastically, "Now we won't even make it to Berk, let alone on time."

It was Hiccup's turn to be corrected, as Valka hopped onto the back of the opposing dragon. She patted him with an ease resembling someone greeting an old friend, though Hiccup knew she'd never seen the dragon before. She couldn't have - there were no thunderdrums in her entire sanctuary. 'Well... none that I've seen.' What was another surprise, after the day he'd had?

"Who's that?" Eret asked the question for everyone else. He'd grasped the concept of naming dragons quite quickly, Hiccup realised, and would probably fit right in to life on Berk. 'If there's a Berk left to have a life on by the time we get there...'

"No idea!" Valka laughed, scratching the thunderdrum's neck. She hopped off the dragon and back to the baby from the sanctuary. "Coming with us?" she invited.

The thunderdrum looked at her for a few seconds, then turned to the others. Its gaze passed completely over Eret, then stopped as it landed on Hiccup. He shifted uncomfortably for a while under the intense stare of the dragon, until he noticed that it looked almost... expectant.

That, and familiar. _That's... _"Thornado?" Hiccup whispered, barely heard by Astrid.

"Wait, you think that's..."

Hiccup nodded, swallowing thickly. Stoick's dragon. _Of all the times to arrive... _He noticed that the arrival of the new dragon had caused the babies to slow to a halt, and nudged his slightly to get it to start moving again. Thornado followed alongside them.

"I expect you're looking for Stoick..." Hiccup sighed. Gods, he did _not _need this right now. "Well... he's..."

"That's Thornado?" Ruffnut asked, head tilted in the dragon's direction, "But Stoick died -"

"Thank you, for that wonderful observation," Hiccup snapped. The twin at least had the decency to look ashamed, but she made no move to apologise for her lack of tact. "Yes," Hiccup continued to the confused dragon, "he's dead. I'm... sorry."

Thornado's eyes widened. He shook his head slightly, then dived back into the mist without another sound.

"Where's he going?" Tuffnut asked unhelpfully, "We need his help!"

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**Another (not at all) interesting note: this chapter is written in a different person than last time, and the next is 1st person present tense, for some reason...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n: A third one! (I'm on fire! (Fall Out Boy intensifies)) Don't question the fangirling omg dragons I just can't. For those who can: here's another oneshot - bit longer this time!**

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It's over. The old alpha's gone, Toothless... Toothless _might _be the new alpha. I need to check on that one; it's a bit unclear. If I can just get out of the way of these villagers, first...

"Good luck, Hiccup!"

"You'll be great!"

Oh, of _course, _I can't escape just yet. Can't the chiefly duties take a break while I find my dragon?

"Okay, back off! He's new to this chiefin' thing; let him rest!" Gobber, helpful as ever, is able to tell when I can't deal with the crowd. I get the feeling I'll be asking him for guidance a lot during the next few weeks. At least I have a chance to get to Toothless now.

It doesn't take long to find him; he's the only night fury - at least, the only we've found so far - and, for all his stealth in the night, his black scales stand out terribly in broad daylight. The fact that every other dragon is brightly coloured doesn't help, either.

"Toothless!" I yell, hopping slightly as I fall into a run to reach him quicker. The dragon races over to me, too, tongue lolling out of his mouth with each ridiculous gallop. "Oof!"

Typically, Toothless has barrelled right into me, sending me crashing into the floor. A predictable, yet painful, result of calling him over. "Good to see you, bud." It may have only been a few minutes since the battle ended, but it feels like an age - especially now that the adrenaline's wearing off.

Speaking of adrenaline wearing off, Toothless is opening his mouth, jaws gaping to replicate the yawn coming from my mouth. It's kind of cute, until his saliva starts dripping onto my face.

"Come on!" I roll my eyes at the dragon as I shake my head slightly to remove the spit. There's no point in reminding him that it doesn't wash out; I haven't had a wash in days, by now - I stink anyway.

Washing can wait for a while though. I'm not the only one here who needs a bath - no matter what Toothless may insist - and besides, the celebration's just begun.

And, typical to all Viking celebrations, a little roughhousing is already underway. "Cut it out!" I shout, voice lacking real authority, as I rush over to the twins. They're already arguing over something, probably which dragon head actually belongs to who.

"Sorry Hiccup. I mean, uh, chief," Tuffnut corrects himself, straightening himself out - but not before giving Ruffnut one last not-so-subtle kick, which she returns in double the strength.

It's a shock, to see someone looking at me with that respect. This whole chief business is going to take a lot of getting used to, and not just the duties. People respect me now. Not just in a 'oh Hiccup, you're such a hero' way, in a proper, 'you're the chief, our decision is final' way.

Wow.

"Just call me Hiccup," I say, distracted by the pair of dragons behind them. "Be right back!" I promise, though the disbelieving looks on both twins' faces tells me that neither quite believes me.

Stormfly and Cloudjumper are the two distracting me. They seem engrossed in conversation, in a way only dragons know how to communicate: jumping around each other. The frolicking is reminiscent of a Viking's tendency to speak through his axe instead of his mouth; just another way our two species interlink.

"Hey guys," I say with a smile. A light rush of air behind me tells me of Toothless's presence there, and I smile at his reassuring presence. "You okay?"

Cloudjumper smiles at me, then bows his head slightly. The display of respect, commonplace between the dragons of Berk, also serves to reveal Valka's presence on her dragon's back. "Hey, mum."

Valka smiles at me, using her staff to swing herself to the ground next to me. "Hey, Hiccup."

I return the smile, yawning again as I open my mouth slightly. Valka laughs slightly at that, sharing a look with Cloudjumper. "You should get some rest," she advises.

"Aw, come on!" Not a day into her resuming her motherly duties, and she's already sending me to bed? Well, I'm a chief now, I can -

"Don't give me that look," she warns, chucklng again. "I'm every bit as stubborn as you are, and it looks like you'll drop of your own accord soon enough."

"Fine." I say, smirking at the victorious nod that spreads across my mother's face, "I'll make sure to collapse onto Toothless."

Though not the response she was looking for, Valka accepts my stubbornness with a small eye roll, and wanders off to talk to some of the older tribe members. She must have a lot of catching up to do, after spending twenty years away from everyone. And so much has changed for everyone to tell her about...

"Hey Hiccup!" Astrid's cheery call nearly sends me to the floor. As it is, I manage to just catch myself, using Toothless to balance as I swivel round.

"Hey..." My sentence is once again interrupted by a yawn, "Astrid. What's up?"

"A bunch of dragons." And Astrid's sarcasm is correct; a few dragons fly overhead as she speaks, their riders whooping in joy as they reach top speed.

"Hey! Sarcasm's my thing!" I argue. Astrid laughs at the reaction.

"Sleep should be your thing," she tells me, pushing me off in the direction of my house. A nap is sounding like a better and better idea, but sleeping in an empty house? Not so much. Besides, it may have been trashed - or iced, rather - in the battle.

"Really? I've already had this talk!" I point over to Cloudjumper and Valka, both in the middle of befriending a gronkle, "I don't need you mothering me, too."

"Fine." Astrid says, crossing her arms indignantly, "See who's right when you're falling asleep on your feet."

I roll my eyes at her insistence, then walk off. It's time to find a nice place to nap, because, despite my saying otherwise, I can tell I'm about to fall asleep.

Luckily, Toothless can sort the problem out for me easily. He uses his tail to sweep me off his feet, cocooning me in his wings before I can hurt myself on the floor. I mumble a few protests just to keep up appearances - I'm sure I can hear Astrid's laughter outside of Toothless's protective embrace - then close my eyes and work on resting.

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**I'm running out of ideas but I don't want to stop writing...  
So... anyone got any requests? (Please I just want to write about these beautiful characters...)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n: Another one. Bit of a Toothless/Hiccup friendship moment, more of Hiccup's adventures in staying awake. It's a sign that I need to sleep. A sign I choose to ignore completely.**

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A worried croon woke Hiccup from his nap. "Wha..." he mumbled, opening his eyes to find himself face to face with Toothless. The dragon looked very unimpressed, eyelids narrowed just slightly in irritation. "What did I do now?" he yawned, stretching his arms out and hitting his arm on something as he did. _Oh._

_That _explained it. Hiccup was in the forge - even with the new influx of chiefly duties, he managed to help Gobber out every once in a while, as payback for the help the blacksmith was giving him. Hiccup was almost certain that the only reason the entire village hadn't burned down yet was because Gobber was there. That, and Valka's help; now, he wasn't the only one that people came to with their dragon related problems. It certainly left him more free time, though that time was mostly taken up with other things that kept coming up.

Back to the problem at hand - Hiccup had fallen asleep in the forge. It happened often, more often than he'd care to admit, but it'd been happening for years - ever since he first became Gobber's apprentice. He'd fallen asleep on his first day there; Gobber hadn't been sure of what to do, so he'd just left him to sleep on the floor. He'd been a complete runt, too weak even to work in the forge. And now he was chief of the tribe. It still hadn't properly sunk in.

Hiccup looked over the work at the desk, squinting as he tried to make sense of his scribbled ideas from a few hours before. Like most things written just before one collapsed from exhaustion, they were mostly illegible, or, on the off chance that his handwriting was translatable, a terrible idea. What was he thinking when he'd considered, quite seriously by the detail in the notes, a contraption that allowed sheep to ride dragons?_ The comedy factor? _he guessed, lifting another page from the table.

Another croon broke his thoughts, reminding Hiccup that he still had an over-protective dragon to convince of his wellbeing. "I'm fine," he said, yawning slightly as he piled all of last night's ideas together in preparation of disposing of them (with fire, so no one could possibly find them and ridicule him for them).

Toothless's disbelieving look said it all. The dragon flicked his tail towards Hiccup's pile of terrible ideas, one eyelid raising to mock the eyebrow raise some Vikings could achieve.

"Really! I was just tired, with all the chiefing and the 'help rebuild the village, Hiccup', 'come look at my new trick, Hiccup', 'feed me an obscene amount of fish, Hiccup'!" With the last words, Hiccup glared at Toothless.

The dragon didn't even have the decency to pretend to look sorry for what he'd done, instead giving Hiccup a less than subtle nudge towards the door.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Hiccup laughed, walking over to the exit. Just as he was about to leave, Gobber barged in.

"Ah, Hiccup!" he smiled, "Heading off to bed now?"

"Yeah..." Hiccup admitted, "Mr Worry-a-lot over here thinks it's bedtime."

"He's probably right," Gobber reasoned. "Usually is. Better than telling than you, anyway." he said, looking pointedly at Hiccup's dishevelled appearance.

_Always with the worrying. _Hiccup complained mentally, pushing past Gobber and letting Toothless take the lead as he walked back home.

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**If y'all have any requests ('cept romancey stuff - I'm terrible at it) please tell me. I'm so motivated to write, but I have hardly any ideas... (whyy)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/n: Thanks to Nathalie Shiffer for the idea - I hope it's what you had in mind!**

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"Wow..." Hiccup mouthed, staring out at the ocean. Since defeating Drago's bewilderbeast, the entirety of Valka's dragon sanctuary had moved over to Berk. It hadn't been hard to accommodate the new arrivals - Berk was, after all, designed around the dragons that inhabited it - but it had been a slight challenge to find riders for the dragons.

Some dragons were happy to go without a Viking companion. Those who'd been under Valka's care for the longest were most loyal to her now, even if she was the official rider of Cloudjumper instead of themselves. Those dragons usually followed their leader around the village, creating a quite comical line that trailed behind her and occasionally ended up in someone's way.

Others were more willing to bond with someone else, so the task fell to Hiccup to find the dragons a new rider. In the meantime, it was up to him to look after them all.

An unexpected nudge to his side nearly sent him off the cliff, but he managed to get a grip on Toothless before the dragon's carelessness ended in injury. "I know, bud," he apologised, "I'll be done soon, I promise."

This was supposed to be the time that Hiccup allocated to flying with Toothless. Even though Astrid had kept good on her word and regularly gave Toothless flights around the island, the picky dragon was never truly content unless he was soaring through the skies with his original rider. Hiccup couldn't fault him for it - he felt much the same way, in all actuality; none of the other dragons could quite compare to the thrilling speeds of a night fury, no matter how desperately they tried to impress him.

Toothless crooned this time, eyes widening as far as he could get them to go. Hiccup couldn't suppress the laugh at his dragon's cute pose, but he still refused to give in. He wanted to make sure he remembered all of the new dragons, Toothless's distractions be damned.

"Who's next?" Hiccup asked himself, scouring the crowd of multi-coloured beasts to find one he hadn't already documented. _Ah! _he thought, spotting a small dragon in the middle of the group. He'd yet to discover the name of the species, but he had documented every colour he'd come across, and a purple one had so far eluded him. "How about you?"

"Ah!" Hiccup shouted, pushed forwards suddenly by Toothless. He wobbled slightly before toppling over the cliff edge completely, causing the night fury to dive after him. "What was that for?" he shouted as he fell, barely able to hear himself over the sound of the wind rushing through his ears.

Toothless caught up to him just in time to save him from getting wet, Hiccup's foot - he'd switched the prosthetic to flying as soon as he started to drop - clicking into place and flattening their dive into a leisurely glide.

"Useless reptile..." Hiccup muttered fondly, rubbing Toothless's face as they made their way back up to the gathered dragons. They were all on edge now, having seen their Viking companion fall and not seeing Toothless catch him.

"I'm fine, guys," Hiccup reassured the crowd, clicking Toothless's tail into place to let him glide back to the cliff edge as he jumped between the dragons. He'd been practicing it ever since he'd seen Valka do it, and was pleased to see that he was getting better - he hadn't fallen off yet, for starters.

After making sure every dragon was content, Hiccup leapt off the highest one and pulled out his wings, gliding back to earth to meet his own dragon. Toothless was already pouting, after only a few minutes of not being the centre of Hiccup's attention.

"Okay, big baby," Hiccup laughed, "We can go on that flight now."

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**(Personally, I think it's adorable...)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/n: More dragon cuties being dragon cuties... and a bit more excitement, too. Idea from Nathalie Shiffer again, so thanks!**

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"Woohoo!" Hiccup yelled, stretching his arms out as he flew above the clouds. He and Toothless had been out for about an hour now, performing complicated areal manoeuvres and flat-out speed runs. It was about time to be heading back, Hiccup realised sadly, patting Toothless to let him know that the fun was over.

Well, it wasn't quite over _yet._

Hiccup locked Toothless's tail into place and leapt from his back, extending his arms as he attached the leather wings to his wrists. Letting out a yell of pure joy, Hiccup tilted himself in the air so that he was upside down, and smiled at Toothless. The dragon returned the grin, living up to his name as he showed his gums.

"Going good so far..." Hiccup decided, turning back around to check for any surprise sea stacks. Every time he tried to practise with the wings they seemed to appear, and he could never quite make the turn in time.

Luckily, there was no such distraction today, and Hiccup managed to remount Toothless and regain control of his tailfin before the two crash landed. Hands tightening around the handles, Hiccup narrowed his eyes and prepared for the sharp turns of the forest ahead. Sure, he could always pull back up and avoid it altogether, but what was the fun in that? Besides, he was close enough to Berk that a dragon was sure to come to his aid if he _did _fall.

Dragon assistance wasn't required, as he and Toothless made it through the mass of trees with ease. "Okay, let's head back..." Hiccup said reluctantly, bringing Toothless in for a slow dive as Berk came into view.

A sudden sea stack in his way stopped that plan.

"Really?" he asked sarcastically, unable to do much more as he and Toothless smacked into the rock. _We must be close enough to Berk..._ Hiccup thought, letting out a desperate yell as Toothless failed to get a proper grip on anything, causing both dragon and rider to plummet towards the ocean.

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"What is it, Cloudjumper?" Valka asked, noticing the way the dragon's ears twitched. Her and her dragon were out on their daily flight, a much less exciting affair than her son's, and much less dangerous. She concentrated on her hearing for a second, able to recognise a distant scream now that she concentrated. "Hiccup..." she murmured, not needing to prompt Cloudjumper into action. He flew straight after the source of the noise - he was highly protective of Hiccup, seemed to see him as his child.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hiccup and Toothless were enjoying a quick jaunt towards the sea. There were no rocks for them to land on, at least, but smacking into freezing water was never fun, especially when one of your limbs was made of metal.

Both were too dazed from the collision to do anything about their situation though, so it was into the water they went.

"Ah!" The cold snapped Hiccup out of his confusion, replacing it with blind panic as he struggled to make his way to the surface. Toothless was faring no better; he was above water, but struggling to get anywhere. "Toothless!"

The familiar screech of a dragon came as a reply, but it wasn't Toothless's voice. _Cloudjumper?_

Sure enough, Valka and her dragon had made a timely arrival, their appearance meaning that the two would be safe. Valka used her staff to fish Hiccup out, and Cloudjumper pulled Toothless out of the water and onto some rocks within easy flying distance.

"Are you okay?" Valka asked, checking her son over as he tried to warm himself up, "Were you injured? What happened?"

"A sea stack happened," Hiccup said dryly, gaining a laugh from his mother and her dragon. Over the time she'd spent on Berk, she'd spent a surprising amount of time helping Hiccup after he got into trouble from not noticing the rock formations when he was flying close to the sea.

"Of course," she laughed, dropping her son off next to his dragon. The pair shook themselves to get dry, then Hiccup jumped onto Toothless's back and they prepared to fly again. "You should probably get dried off before you get on with your other duties." she advised.

Hiccup groaned. In the middle of nearly drowning, he'd managed to forget about the rest of his tasks for the day. Perhaps if he played up his injuries he'd be able to - _no, _he reminded himself, _a chief doesn't take selfish breaks._

* * *

As it transpired, there was no need for Hiccup to pretend to be hurt, or ill, to get out of work. Cloudjumper had followed him and Toothless home, overseen them getting dried, then absolutely refused to let either of them leave the house for the rest of the day.

It led to quite a few interesting situations, where people had to shout their problems up to his bedroom window so he could try to help them. The villagers understood the inconvenience though; they knew how overprotective dragons could get, and none of them wanted to be the one to tell Cloudjumper that Hiccup was fine, thanks, and he was needed outside for actual work.

"You're a handful," Hiccup sighed as he rested beside the dragon. Toothless had abandoned him a while ago once he realised that his dragon friend was only keeping his rider trapped within his own home, "you know that?"

Cloudjumper gave Hiccup a look. It wasn't a particularly emotive look, but he was getting better at interpreting the meaning behind dragon behaviour. _He was getting me a day off... _he realised, laughing slightly at the idea.

"Thanks," Hiccup said honestly, leaning back against the dragon and preparing to enjoy the rest of his unofficial day off.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/n: Wow. I expected a couple of views and maybe a follow, but five favourites and nine follows? That's amazing!**

**(Edit: I can't believe I managed to get Meatlug's gender wrong! Thanks to guest for pointing that one out...)**

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Toothless stood in the forest just outside of Berk, watching a group of nadders fly past. Being the alpha dragon brought on a sudden influx of responsibility, mirroring his rider's own as chief. And, as neither had ever had any guidance, they were both trying to create a system that worked for them. Luckily it was easier for Toothless; dragons were far superior to and much less needy than the Vikings his Hiccup had to deal with.

_Hey, Alpha!_

_I've told you Meatlug, it's Toothless._ corrected Toothless, looking at the excitable gronkle, 'What is it now?'

_I'm bored!_ Meatlug complained, _Fishlegs is being boring again!_

Toothless sighed. As part of his job as an alpha dragon, he accepted that he needed to help all the dragons under his care, but _this_? This was just ridiculous.

_Go find another rider. Astrid'll probably go for a fly._ Toothless suggested. He knew Hiccup's mate was willing to help from experience; despite his and Hiccup's best efforts, they sometimes failed to synchronise their free time. If Toothless was left without a rider, Astrid was always there to fill Hiccup's place.

_You don't even need a rider..._ Toothless muttered, already knowing the response to that. It was common knowledge, even with the Vikings, that dragons much preferred to fly with someone; they all wanted to share the joy of flight with another. Meatlug was one of the many dragons impartial to one rider in particular, and she sometimes refused to let others on.

_I'll go ask Hiccup!_ Meatlug decided to ignore Toothless's advice, bounding away into the forest. Toothless followed on foot as Meatlug began a slow hover over the trees.

_He's too busy!_ Toothless yelled after the gronckle. _And he's mine..._ he added privately, a surge of jealously flowing through him just thinking of another dragon enjoying Hiccup's company.

The shouts fell on death ears, and Meatlug continued straight into the village, where she found Hiccup and promptly squashed him.

"Hello... Meatlug..." Hiccup said weakly, arms twitching slightly under the gronckle's weight. The villagers that had previously been asking him of his plans for the next part of rebuilding laughed, shook their heads and left Hiccup to deal with the dragons.

After all, the first thing to know about dragons is that you never take their toy.

"Hey bud," Hiccup managed to peer out from his current captor to see Toothless. He could hear him too, crooning softly in equal parts concern and amusement. "I'm fine. Well, I would be if Meatlug would get off me."

Toothless took the signal and glared at Meatlug appropriately.

_But..._ the dragon started, eyes pleading silently.

_Get off him._ Toothless ordered. He threw in his sternest glare for good measure, and Meatlug - however hesitantly - finally moved off Hiccup.

He was soon replaced by Toothless, hovering over his rider and checking him for injuries while Hiccup drew in deep breaths. After deciding that Hiccup would be fine once he managed to get enough oxygen again, Toothless gave him an affectionate lick.

"Ew!" As usual, Hiccup didn't much appreciate the gesture, "It still doesn't wash out, you know!" he reminded Toothless, who looked exceptionally pleased with himself.

Toothless gave a quick nod before crouching down, and Hiccup forgot his anger as he switched his leg and prepared to take to the skies.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/n: Thanks to helpful friends and the amazing HTTYD 2 soundtrack (flying with mother omg) I've managed to get a couple more ideas!**

* * *

Drago's bewilderbeast reared up behind Hiccup, preparing an icy blast to shoot at the unsuspecting Viking.

"Hiccup!" A shout alerted him his impending doom, giving him just enough time to turn around and hold his hands above his head defensively before the cold shoots out to kill him.

Just before the ice collided with Hiccup, a flash of black soared past. Suddenly, Toothless was there. In that moment, everyone watching knew, instinctively, that Hiccup would be okay. The night fury would defend his rider to the last breath, and nothing, not even the most powerful alpha dragon, could separate them.

It made you feel almost sorry for Drago; how woefully unprepared he had been.

Still, it was chilling to see the ice encase the pair. In a literal sense as well as mental; the rush of cold air spread throughout the gathered crowd.

Inside the icy prison, Hiccup and Toothless were crouched together. Hiccup found that he couldn't think properly from the cold, shivering despite sharing in the warmth of his dragon companion. "T... Toothless..." he murmured, teeth chattering rapidly as he opened his eyes, "Are you..."

Toothless let out a small grunt, and Hiccup was alarmed to detect small vibrations coming from the dragon. Toothless _never _got cold. He just didn't. Couldn't.

"Toothless..." Hiccup snuggled closer to his friend, rubbing his scales in a meaningless attempt to warm them. He could distantly hear the mournful mumblings of those not encased in ice. He could see his mother's shocked face as the ice surrounding him started to warm. _Wait, what?_

It wasn't just warming up; it was _glowing! _Glowing a brilliant blue the likes of which he'd only seen when -

"Toothless!" he yelled, craning his neck for a better view of what his protector was doing.

Toothless was glowing the same blue as the ice, warming it with the power of his slowly charging shot.

The ice cracked, splitting apart in a glorious shimmer that cascaded down around the two hidden within. The crowd surged forwards to get a look at Hiccup, but he was more concerned with Toothless than the Vikings around him.

He stood slowly, weakened from even a quick stay in such intense cold, and lifted his gaze to Toothless. The night fury was stood on a remaining piece of ice, growling at the alpha. He was still glowing, looking so mighty with his strong stance and eyes narrowed in determination.

Hiccup realised what was going on and let out a dry laugh. _He's challenging the alpha! _


	9. Chapter 9

**A/n: A bit of a less serious one here. Anyone who doesn't like questionable attempts of humour should probably sit this one out. Credit to friend without fanfic account (you know who you are, "Rick Astley") for the idea.**

* * *

Hiccup looked down on his latest invention triumphantly. After an hour of planning, several more spent making it in the forge, and the few seconds he'd taken to admire it now, it was finally time to test out his new creation.

_I can't believe I nearly threw these plans away! _he marvelled, beaming down at the work. Now, he just had to find himself a sheep...

He'd taken the schematics from his previous two-in-the-morning invention, editing it slightly so that now, instead of riding on the backs of dragons, the sheep would _fly. _They would be ecstatic, he was sure; they always seemed to view the dragons so enviously as they soared past each morning. Or perhaps their cowering had been out of fear...

No matter; he'd made the contraption and the sheep would use it whether they wanted to or not.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called out, sticking his head out of the forge door for the first time that day to hunt down his errant dragon, "Found a sheep yet?"

The night fury bounded over dutifully, sheep in mouth. He didn't understand his rider's sudden obsession over the creatures, but he got the feeling that Hiccup having had approximately three hours of sleep over the past week was to blame for this sudden burst of insanity. He and Hiccup's fellow Berkians had made the unanimous decision to let the insanity run its course - the results could be amusing - and wait for Hiccup to sleep of his own accord.

_What's that? _Toothless asked, though he knew that the question was heard as a random growling sound to his rider.

"Sheep will finally fly!" Hiccup explained, grinning as he grabbed the animal and shoved it into the metal contraption. "We need a place to throw it from..."

Hiccup shook his head. _Hey, Cloudjumper! _he called, noticing the larger dragon walk past, _I'm going to need your help with this one!_

_What, another stupid invention? _Cloudjumper asked, abandoning his previous task to come see what Toothless needed assistance with, _So, what's the estimated sheep casualty rate this time?_

_None, if we can catch it... _Toothless spared a glance over to his sleep-deprived rider, _He plans to throw one off a cliff, to see if it flies. Don't ask, _he added, noticing Cloudjumper's confused expression.

_Wait - where's Hiccup? _Cloudjumper asked, peering past Toothless to notice that Berk's chief had escaped.

_Oh no. Quick - we have to find him!_

* * *

A few minutes of frantic searching later, Toothless found Hiccup, dangling the sheep off the cliff. Despite the sheep's desperate bleats of protest, Hiccup seemed to be finding some sick entertainment in the scene.

_You really need to get him to bed. _Cloudjumper pointed out unhelpfully.

_I've been trying. _Toothless deadpanned, walking over to his rider. _I'll be taking that, _he muttered, snatching the sheep in his jaws.

"Give me the... sheep..." Hiccup protested, losing awareness quickly, "It wants to fly..."

_Pretty sure it doesn't, _Cloudjumper said, taking the sheep from Toothless. _I'll take this one, you get Hiccup..._

Toothless nodded, scooping his - now asleep - rider up onto his back and heading back to their house.

* * *

"I did what?" Now thoroughly rested, Hiccup was getting an update on Berk activity from Astrid. The first point of discussion had been his actions over the last day, which Astrid hadn't been able to keep a straight while explaining. "Why did no one stop me?"

"It was too funny." she admitted, "I mean, you - you tried to make a _sheep _fly!"

"Yeah, so I've been told," Hiccup said dryly. "Though it does raise the question... would it have worked?"

"Actually, yes." Astrid answered. "Gobber's putting it in the museum of Hiccup's strange successes as we speak."

Hiccup groaned. "Why did you start that up? Isn't it bad enough me making a fool of myself every so often? Do we really need a shining monument to my embarrassments?"

The museum - if it could even be called as such - was a slowly growing collection of Hiccup's more interesting creations that Gobber had started in the forge. Despite Hiccup's many attempts to 'accidentally' destroy it, there always seemed to be someone present at just the right time to stop the disaster from happening.

"Yes." Astrid deadpanned. She was only able to hold her straight expression for a second though, soon collapsing into fits of giggles.

"Yeah, laugh it out," Hiccup grumbled, "We'll see who's laughing after the next dragon race..."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/n: Incorporating a bit of book canon here. Well, slightly.**

* * *

_What do you think he's doing?_

_No idea..._

Toothless sat with the dragons of Hiccup's friends, all of whom were trying to make sense of what the human was doing. Hiccup had joined the dragons' daily chat, completely unexpectedly, simply taking a seat in the grass beside them and jotting random notes in the notepad he carried around.

_Hey! What are you doing? _Hookfang asked, taking after his rider in his tendency towards confrontation over subtlety.

_You won't find out by asking, _Cloudjumper explained patiently, _He's human: he can't understand us._

Hiccup smiled slightly as he made another note in his book. Hookfang let out an impatient snort and walked over to the Viking. _What are you doing? _he asked again, speaking louder and slower - directly into Hiccup's ear.

Hiccup batted the inquisitive dragon away with a hand while continuing to take notes. Hookfang looked over Hiccup's shoulder to see what he was writing, but couldn't work out what was being written.

_I can't make out any of these scribbles... _Hookfang complained.

_That's because you can't read, idiot. _Toothless snapped, far less patient than Cloudjumper, _Just like Hiccup can't understand you! He doesn't speak the same language!_

_But I can understand him! _Hookfang insisted. He had a point; all dragons could understand the language of the Vikings as well as their own, it was just that the understanding wasn't mutual. _I thought it was just my rider, _he continued, _but it looks like yours is just as stupid!_

_Hiccup is _not _stupid! _Toothless growled, coming over to defend his friend. He placed a protective wing on him as though it could do something to stop Hookfang's insults, _Vikings just can't understand dragons!_

"Calm down, bud," Hiccup soothed, rubbing Toothless's back calmly, "It's okay."

Toothless relaxed. Leave it to his rider to help him calm down, even when he had no idea what irked him so. Or perhaps he did; Toothless had noticed that Hiccup seemed to always know what was wrong, like he was somehow surpassing just the ability to read into a dragon's body language. Whatever the reason, it was lucky that Hiccup always knew the right thing to say. _Thanks._

"Don't mention it," Hiccup said, leaving Toothless to wonder exactly how much his friend actually knew of the way dragons spoke. He had an uncanny natural talent for understanding dragons, but surely he must be having some sort of lessons, or even teaching himself about it? It didn't matter now; Toothless vowed to look into the issue later. Now, what had they been talking about before his human so rudely interrupted?

* * *

The next day, Hiccup sat in on the dragons' talk again.

"Hey bud," he greeted as he walked into the clearing, relaxing into the same spot he had yesterday.

_Hi._ Toothless replied, watching Hiccup take another note. Was he writing down his responses? Whatever he was doing, it looked tedious and difficult. Nothing a quick flight couldn't distract him from.

_Toothless?_

Oh, great. Now his rider had managed to distract him enough to pull him from the conversation. Again. _Sorry, _he apologised, _I was just -_

_Distracted by Hiccup? _Cloudjumper laughed. Despite the dragon's newfound respect for Toothless after him becoming the alpha, Cloudjumper still found the younger dragon's antics amusing, especially when it came to the illogical friendship that had ended the war against dragons. _It's okay; if you want to go for a flight now, we'll all understand._

"No!" Toothless looked over at Hiccup confusedly, bemused that the Viking had spoken for him. "I can't go yet; I'm just getting the hang of translating!"

_What? _Cloudjumper said slowly, tilting his head in confusion, _Translating?_

"Well, yeah," Hiccup said casually, "What did you think I was doing, sitting here while you all talk? I'm trying to learn your language. I might not be able to speak it, but looking after dragons would be much easier if I could understand them fully."

_I see... _Cloudjumper nodded thoughtfully, _Well, I'd be happy to help._

_You're trying to understand us? _A young terror asked, bouncing onto the Viking's head, _I wanna help! Oooh, can you tell what I'm saying now? Trees! Dragons! Do you know the word for fish? That's important! How about salmon? Cod? Eel?_

"Slow down!" Hiccup laughed, taking the tiny dragon off his head and scratching his head slowly. "I got a bit of that. Lost you around help..."

_Literally a bit, then. _Toothless joked.

"Very funny, Toothless," Hiccup said, grinning. "Now, are you gonna help me with this or not?"

* * *

"Why do we have to be at the academy again?" Ruffnut complained, leaning against Barf and Blech.

"Cos... I have no idea!" her twin countered, punctuating the sentence with a light - for the twins - punch in the arm.

"We're here because Hiccup said so," Astrid reminded them pointedly. "Hiccup the _chief._"

"Hiccup your boyfriend." Ruffnut argued.

"Okay guys, clearly you're wondering why you're here," Hiccup saved the group from any further arguing, "So I'll tell you: you're going to learn Dragonese."

"Dragon disease? Leave that to the healer," Tuffnut dismissed, waving his hand as he prepared to mount his head of his shared dragon.

"No, stupid," Ruffnut whacked her twin on the head, "Dragon_ese._"

"Yes," Hiccup agreed, "And it's the language that dragons speak. If you don't want to learn it, you can leave now."

Ruffnut and Tuffnut shared a quick glance before hopping on their dragon and flying off. Snotlout looked indecisive for a moment, then mounted Hookfang and left without another word.

"So, it's just you two?" Hiccup confirmed. "Somehow, that doesn't really surprise me..."

"Let's get on with it then!" Fishlegs was practically shouting in his excitement, "Finally, I'll be able to understand Meatlug completely!"

_No one understands Meatlug, _Toothless joked, invoking laughter from Hiccup.

"What's so funny?" Astrid asked, noticing the exchange between the two.

"If you pay attention, you'll be able to work it out yourself in a few weeks!" Hiccup said brightly, "Now, let's start with the basics... Toothless, say 'fish'."


	11. Chapter 11

The dragon - a hideous zippleback - pawed the ground in front of Toothless slightly. It was time for the night fury to get onto one of the less fun parts of being the alpha of a group of dragons trying to settle into a new home: taking requests.

_I'll see what I can do, _Toothless promised, and the dragon he was addressing nodded before rushing off to tell his friends of the alpha's verdict. Toothless had been doing this a lot lately: promising to see what he could do. It was much easier than actually dedicating himself to any given task, and besides, none of the other dragons had noticed what he was doing yet.

_Again, Toothless? You'll need to actually take action sooner or later. _Well, _most _of the other dragons hadn't caught on. Cloudjumper was a bit of an exception anyway; he was one of the oldest dragons to decide to settle on Berk - his loyalty to Valka was too strong to just leave her to go and find a new nest - so he was one of the most intelligent.

_I'll get round to it eventually, _Toothless waved away the older dragon's concern, _Look, I'll build it now!_

He took a small pile of twigs and tried to fashion it into a cave-like shape. Cloudjumper watched on, unimpressed, as the structure failed and collapsed in on itself.

_Stupid nest! _Toothless growled, sending a quick plasma blast to set the bunch of twigs alight. Cloudjumper laughed at the alpha's childish petulance.

_Maybe you could get your rider to help, _he suggested peaceably, patting the embers to put them out. _He seems to enjoy helping the dragons._

_He enjoys helping _everyone. Toothless countered. _Well, I guess I could, but I don't want to give him too much to do. Remember what happened last time? _he prompted, both dragons shuddering at the thought.

But still, it made sense to enlist the help of someone who'd dedicated the past five years to dragon-proofing Berk for assistance on this type of task. _I'll ask him. _Toothless decided.

* * *

Toothless didn't bring the nest problem up the next time he and Hiccup met. It was time for their daily flight, and he didn't want anything to spoil the fun. Unfortunately, Hiccup knew him too well to not notice that he was thinking about something.

"What is it bud?" Hiccup asked, turning the tailfin gears to set Toothless into a glide as he patted the dragon.

_Nothing. _Toothless sighed. Hiccup didn't respond, and it was hard to see his expression when the Viking was sat on his back. _Okay, it's about the dragons._

"What about the dragons?" Ah, there it was. Ever the worrier, Berk's new chief was already fearing the worst. "Was it -"

_Nothing's wrong! _Toothless snapped, breaking Hiccup's panicked reverie. _They want a new nest, though. I was thinking of asking you for help in building one._

Hiccup hummed slightly. "Makes sense. They're used to all the ice. Bit of a shame you can't just make a nest with your breath, hey bud?"

Toothless nodded. _Yeah. So, you'll help?_

"Of course!"

* * *

**This one might have another part to it later, with the actual building.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/n: Back again, with something a bit different that came to mind. So, not a continuation of the last chapter, but I'm working on that!**

* * *

"Whoo!" Hiccup yelled, unable to contain his sheer joy as he and Toothless soared through the skies. They were off to expand the map, broadening their horizons and - hopefully - discovering some new dragon species on the way.

Hiccup patted Toothless gently and the night fury bobbed through the cloud layer in response, the two getting a light coat of water as they passed through. It had taken Hiccup quite a while to get over the 'clouds aren't actually soft - in fact, they're damp and unpleasant' thing; Toothless had nearly crashed the first time he took Hiccup into the cloud layer, laughing too hard to fly properly in amusement at Hiccup's shock.

"Let's stop here for a bit," Hiccup pointed down at a nearby island, "I need to add on everything we've seen so far."

Hiccup set out this morning with the map of the archipelago and a few extra sheets of paper. The other dragon riders hadn't come with him on the trip; they were helping his dad set up a proper arena for the new game they'd recently invented: dragon racing. Hiccup thought it could be an interesting game, if not for the fact that he, riding the fastest and most agile of all the dragons, would win every time.

Toothless touched down lightly on the new land. It was quite similar to Berk - they were, after all, still quite close - with its expanses of grass and visible forests in the distance. It wasn't somewhere Hiccup recognised as a Viking island though, so there was no telling what the inhabitants were like. If there were any humans, the safest bet was to assume them unfriendly though; this was Viking territory, and very few Viking tribes followed a 'questions first, killing later' ethos.

Regardless of the possible danger, Hiccup sat down and began to sketch. It was a relaxing activity, one that Toothless could join in with, via the use of an uprooted tree and the dirt in the ground. When both dragon and rider were finished with their drawing, Hiccup folded the map away and hopped back onto Toothless's back.

"Let's go, bud," Hiccup prompted, clicking his prosthetic into place. The pair set off to explore the island from the air, sticking close to the tree level so they could still see the details on the ground. They hadn't been flying for long when they saw a group of people. "Hey, how about we go say hello?"

Toothless twisted his neck to look at Hiccup. The Viking could almost hear what his dragon must've been thinking - _Seriously? Not bothered about the 'dragon killing' thing anymore, are we?_

"Oh, come on," Hiccup argued, "It's not like we're defenceless, Mr Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death Itself."

Toothless rolled his eyes, but he complied, swooping down to meet the small group of people.

They looked like Vikings, though not the type you found around Berk. The effects of the Green Death's mind control hadn't reached dragons this far away from the nest, so Vikings in these parts were unused to dealing with dragons. That didn't mean they were friendly with them, just a lot more scared. And, since Toothless was a night fury...

"Night fury!" one of the Vikings screamed, pointing a shaking finger at Toothless. The dragon snorted in amusement as the other humans turned tail and fled, not even staying long enough to notice the boy perched on the dragon's back, sharing in his mirth.

"That went well," Hiccup chuckled, wiping an eye as it started to tear up from his amusement. "Okay, so maybe approaching them like that wasn't the best idea..."

Toothless looked at him. _No kidding, _he said, expression enough for Hiccup to understand his speech.

"Well how was I supposed to know they were all going to have a head-for-the-hills approach to dragons?" Hiccup asked defensively. "So..." he continued, a mischievous grin spreading on his face, "want to go scare some more people?"


	13. Chapter 13

**A/n: I'm back, with dragon racing escapades. Still (and always) open to requests, btw.**

* * *

Dragon racing is a simple enough sport: you fly, you get sheep, you win. It's the newest, and best, of Berk's traditions. And the last to be set up by Stoick, but we don't mention that.

Anyway, dragon racing. The only sport I, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, can actually win. Until we come up with some new dragon related sports, at least.

"Go!" Gobber shouted, starting the match. All of the competitors took to the air. The usual suspects - myself, Astrid, Tuffnut and Ruffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout - were present, as well as new arrival in the form of Eret. Everyone started making loops around the island, scanning the floor for any sheep.

"See anything, bud?" I asked.

_A bunch of terrors, but no sheep. _Toothless reported. I sighed slightly; if we didn't find anything soon, the match could end up dragging out for some time - the black sheep is typically released once everyone has earned five points collectively. _Wait, there's one!_

We dropped down slightly to take the first sheep of the game, Toothless picking up the pace so that no one had a chance to catch up and steal our prize.

"Hiccup takes the first point!" Gobber shouted happily, slapping me on the back as I flew past. A few cheers sounded within the crowd.

_This won't take long._

* * *

Half an hour later, and the game was in full swing. I was ahead by five, with all the other riders lagging behind at a slightly lower zero. What? They could beat me in everything else, and besides, a chief has to look strong in front of his people. That was what dad always did.

"Gotcha!" _Oh, change in the scores._ Astrid had one point, making her a solid second place. A predictable result.

"Oh, gods," I said, noticing a slap fight breaking out between the twins. Apparently the fact that they were on the same team - they have the same dragon; it only makes sense - wasn't enough to stop their arguments. "Quit it you two!"

"That's not going to work," Astrid reminded me, "You know it won't. It never does."

"Doesn't hurt to try," I reasoned, just as Barf and Belch passed by and slammed into me. "Spoke too soon..."

"And the chief falls victim to the twins' usual tactics!" Gobber announced as I swept past, calming Toothless with a quick reassurance of my well-being. The twins were - as usual - too uncoordinated to do any damage, anyway.

"Let's see if we can't get another few points," I prompted Toothless, dropping down slightly to scan the village for one of the animals, which are sure to be cowering away between some buildings. Good thing Toothless is so small. "There!"

I pointed downwards as I yelled, Toothless following my finger to drop down beside the yellow marked sheep. _Ha, it's your best friend! _Toothless taunted.

_Funny, it doesn't seem too familiar. Unless..._ "Shut up," I snapped, reaching for the sheep. Yeah, it's him. Just my luck that I'd manage to grab the one I tried to throw off a cliff... "Sorry about that," I apologised.

The sheep bleated. Which of course meant nothing to me, and apparently not to Toothless either: _Do you think he forgives you? _he asked, gazing at the sheep inquisitively.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure. Now, let's win this."

We concentrated now, bringing the sheep back to the nets and slamming it into mine as we flew past. _Just a few more,_ I thought, _and we'll be unbeatable._

There wasn't enough time to make good on my promise, as the horn sounded. _The black sheep! _Everyone started making their way back to the arena, ready to catch the sheep as it rocketed upwards.

The sheep was catapulted into the air, and I caught it before it even got to its highest point. "Yeah!" I whooped, punching the air in victory as me and Toothless prepared to win.

"Oh no you don't..." Astrid muttered determinedly, standing on Stormfly's back in preparation to jump and steal the sheep, and victory. _Fat chance._

I was ready when Astrid jumped. Toothless was the perfect height in the air for me to lock his tailfin into position and leap from his back. I smirked at Astrid's irritated growl as she realised what I'd done. "Sorry!" I shouted up, not sounding it in the least.

I tossed the sheep down as I fell, watching it land neatly in my net. The crowd went wild as I won, but I was more concentrated on making my way back to Toothless safely. I tugged the wings out on my flight suit and drifted slowly to face the dragon, who was falling at an equally relaxed rate. We grabbed each other in mid-air, me clicking my prosthetic back into place just in time to stop us colliding painfully with the roaring crowd.

After a quick victory lap to high-five some of the more excitable crowd members, I landed by the chief's - my - chair.

The other riders soon followed, all grumbling in irritation that I'd won _again. _

"Don't get so cocky," Astrid smirked, "We're doing non-dragon sports next time."

_Ah._


	14. Chapter 14

**A/n: Emerald has been Cumberbatched's idea. Happy reading!**

* * *

Toothless hovered nervously over Hiccup, watching as he tossed and turned under his sheets. A strangled cry from the chief had woken the night fury a few minutes previous, and now he was watching Hiccup's nightmare unfold, completely powerless to stop it.

_Hiccup... _he crooned, pawing slightly at the Viking. Hiccup shifted away from the gentle touch, whimpering slightly.

This was not an unfamiliar sight to the dragon, but it never got easier to watch. Hiccup had suffered from nightmares for months after losing his leg, and the nightmares he experienced now were brought on by Stoick's death. Stoick's death that had been caused by Toothless. Hiccup losing his leg in the battle: also his fault.

And now nightmares. Again, Toothless had caused his rider this distress.

"Dad..." Hiccup whispered, tears brimming in his closed eyes as he curled in on himself. Suddenly he jerked forwards, letting out a choked shout as he woke up.

_Hiccup? _Toothless tried again, tentative this time as he watched the emotions flashing on his riders face. At the dragon's concerned call, Hiccup's eyes flashed with fear for a moment. _Are you okay?_

"I - I'm fine, bud," Hiccup reassured, voice wavering slightly. Toothless didn't bother to call him out on the lie, instead opting to pull the Viking up into his wings. Hiccup relaxed into the dragon's embrace, mumbling slightly. "Sorry for waking you up..."

Toothless snorted. _You know that doesn't bother me, _he scoffed. _I should be the one saying sorry... _he continued sadly, a twinge of guilt hitting him at the memory of what he did.

"You have nothing to apologise for," Hiccup insisted. It was a conversation that they had every time Hiccup dreamt of his father's death, and it always ran in the exact same circles, "I should've got out of the way."

_I should've fought the alpha's control._

"You couldn't have."

_So it was the bewilderbeast's fault._

"No, it was Drago's fault." Hiccup reminded him sternly. He sighed; the conversation had run its course now, leaving them open to a new one. "So, how are the dragons? Still want that nest?"

_Yeah, _Toothless jumped onto the new topic, _But it can wait for a while, I think. Most dragons are just getting used to being around so many Vikings. It's a lot different to only having one looking after you._

"I can imagine," Hiccup nodded, stifling a yawn. "Sounds like you're... pretty busy..." he murmured, eyelids drooping as he started to fall back to sleep.

Toothless watched as his rider drifted off, staying awake for a while longer to check that he wouldn't have any more nightmares before he allowed himself to slip into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Hey, Hiccup!" Ruffnut called, banging on the door to his house. Hiccup had promised to go riding with them this morning, but he hadn't shown up at the arena. "Open up!"

Quickly losing patience, Tuffnut yanked the door open. The others entered slowly, noticing how quiet the house was.

"Maybe he went out without us..." Fishlegs theorized.

"No, he'll be here," Astrid told them, heading over to the stairs, "He'll be in his room." Astrid disappeared upstairs as she spoke.

"Hey, find anything?" Snotlout yelled after her. He was shushed as a reply, and crossed his arms in indigence. "Hey, I'll -"

"Shut up!" Astrid hissed, her head popping down to look at the other riders. "Come look."

Snotlout shrugged and followed her command, closely followed by the others. They were led to Hiccup's room. "I don't get it."

"Stupid," Ruffnut scoffed, "It's supposed to be cute. He's cuddling Toothless!"

Indeed, Hiccup and Toothless lay on the floor, rider using his dragon as a pillow while the night fury draped his wings loosely around the other. Astrid smiled at the scene, closing the door quietly on the two. "Let's leave them to sleep," she decided.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/n: Whoopsy-doopsy. I meant to finish this yesterday, but I was too busy with the real life things...  
I've started working on the requests from guest too, so they'll be turning up next.**

* * *

Eret, son of Eret, wasn't one for waiting. He wasn't one for being nervous either, or at least not for admitting his nerves, so he concentrated on keeping his head up and his expression neutral while he waited for the - now late - chief of the tribe.

He already knew Hiccup. That wasn't what he was worried about. Today, he was going to properly learn how to train dragons. "How to _befriend_ dragons," he knew Hiccup would insist, though being as the leader of Berk still hadn't thought to grace the former dragon trapper with his presence -

"Hey!" Speak of the devil. Hiccup ran over, waving slightly and panting. "Sorry I'm late, we were trying this new -"

"It's okay," Eret laughed. _A chief apologising to his people... amazing..._ "So, what's the first lesson?"

"Well, usually the first step is to find your dragon, but I think you and Skullcrusher get on well enough, so..." Hiccup paused, looking around, "Where _is _Skullcrusher, anyway?"

"I don't know," Eret shrugged, "Where's Toothless?"

Hiccup smirked, raising his hands to cup his mouth. "I'll get them both," he told Eret before letting out a strange cry. "Dragon calls," he explained upon seeing Eret's wide-eyed expression.

Eret nodded. _Wow, I really have a lot to learn about these dragons..._

_Yes, Hiccup? _Toothless padded over, Skullcrusher hovering behind him.

_It's Eret's first lesson. Be nice._

"Woah, woah, woah!" Eret stared between the equally amused chief and dragons in awe, "What was that?"

"Dragonese," Hiccup explained. "I learnt how to understand it, and now I'm trying to speak it. It makes speaking with wild dragons a lot easier, and it's fun!"

Eret nodded. _Just another reason to admire the chief. An entire language in just a few weeks... _"So, the lesson?"

"Oh, yeah," Hiccup said. He'd forgotten about the lesson amidst Eret's amazement and his own amusement about speaking Dragonese. "Do you know the first rule?"

Eret sighed. "Earn their trust." he droned. Everyone on Berk knew that rule; Hiccup refused to stop talking about it.

"Yes. Anything other than that?"

"Not really..." Eret confessed. Honestly, he hadn't spent much time with his dragon since the battle against the bewilderbeast; in between settling in and repairing the village, there hadn't been time to spend with Skullcrusher.

"Okay. Then you probably haven't ridden him, have you?" Hiccup guessed. Eret nodded. "Right. That's what we'll do. Come on guys!"

With a quick whistle, Hiccup called the two dragons over. He'd noticed Toothless giving Skullcrusher a quick reminder that his rider was unused to dragons and couldn't help but smile at his intuitiveness. Extra cod today, then.

"Let's go," Hiccup encouraged, and the four shot up into the air. Eret yelped in surprise, not anticipating the dragon grabbing him by the leg and flying off with him.

"This is worryingly reminiscent of my first flight!" Eret shouted nervously, glancing up at the smiling dragon.

Hiccup smiled. "Stormfly?" he guessed, "Yeah, they do that." _Skullcrusher, let him up._

Skullcrusher obediently tossed Eret up into the air, causing the ex-trapper to scream again. His fear was short-lived, as the dragon made sure Eret landed safely on his back.

"Shut up," Eret snapped, embarrassed at Hiccup's mirth, "Bet you were just like this on your first flight."

Hiccup paused for a moment, smiling at the memory. "I was more excited than scared," he admitted, "Until we crashed into a lake, that is..."

Now it was Eret's turn to laugh. "Well, hopefully I'll be a bit better!" he joked, only slightly worried that he wouldn't be.

"You'll be fine," Hiccup picked up on the nerves from the strain in Eret's voice, "I only fell because I couldn't control the tailfin yet. You have a fully functioning dragon to do that for you!"

_I'd hardly say I wasn't fully functional, _Toothless pouted.

_Aww, big pouty baby boo. _Hiccup teased, _You got me back for it, we've discussed this!_

"Uhh... guys..." Eret said slowly, noticing that Skullcrusher was slowly losing altitude. The dragon was starting to tilt towards the ground, and Eret was sliding down his back.

_You're just as useless, _Toothless wasn't about to drop the subject, but he spoke of it with a laugh.

_Oh really, Mr Big Alpha? At least when someone tells me to stop licking them, I actually do it!_

"Guys..."

_So you're saying you lick people?_

_What - no - oh, fine. You wi-_

"Guys!" Eret snapped. Both dragon and rider turned in mid-air to watch Eret finally lose his grip and slip off Skullcrusher, giving a short shout of surprise that ended in a large splash. As Eret resurfaced, soaking wet and spluttering, Hiccup laughed.

"I'd say this went about as well as mine did, after all!"


	16. Chapter 16

**A/n: I managed another chapter tonight! Here's an idea from guest: more baby dragons! This time they're different dragons, and I've had a shot at naming some. Disclaimer: I'm not very good at naming dragons. Still, I tried, at least...**

* * *

_Come on!_ a zippleback called, bouncing excitedly with the occasional wing flutter.

_We'll be late!_ the other head whined. Ugg and Lee - aptly named by the twins - then tried to go in two directions at once. The other dragons laughed slightly, the amusement at the two's actions not fading even after the amount of times it had happened.

Ugg and Lee, as all zipplebacks, had to get used to having two heads controlling one body. After five years of working towards synchronisation they were finally starting to work it out, but it wasn't easy. Barf and Belch, one proud half of the young dragon's parental set, insisted to Hiccup (or anyone else that would listen - sometimes even those that wouldn't) that this rate of synchronisation was, in fact, very fast for a zippleback.

_We'll get there eventually,_ Laze, called as such for a tendency move even less than his mother Meatlug, said. He was ambling along with the nadder, who were both engaged in light conversation.

_I agree with Ugg_, Fireworm announced. The monstorous nightmare liked people to know what he was thinking, a trait many assumed he'd picked up from spending so much time around Snotlout. _Or Lee, whoever it was._ Like many others, Fireworm had no idea which zippleback head was which.

_What are we doing?_ Sleekscales asked, sounding reserved, though the twitching of her tail betrayed her hidden excitement.

_Going to the flightless dragon!_ Ugg, or perhaps Lee, shouted, bouncing in excitement. Between the younger, and a considerable amount of the older, dragons, Hiccup was named as such. The nickname had come about long before Hiccup's ability to speak Dragonese, (as a result of his outstanding closeness to all dragons) but his ability to speak like a dragon served to heighten its use.

_Yay_! Laze shouted calmly, waking up a bit. _There he is now!_

The other three dragons looked over to where Laze looked, seeing that Hiccup was indeed walking down in their direction. _Hiccup!_ they all yelled, bounding over and tackling the chief.

"Hey guys!" Hiccup said, surprise making him forget to switch to Dragonese, _What's going on?_

_We came to see you!_ Ugg and Lee said in unison. Hiccup chuckled; the baby dragons that he'd cared for practically from birth had always loved playing with him. He shared the sentiment; though the youngsters could be very distracting at all the wrong moments, he had become almost a second mother to them. Sometimes they even referred to him as such.

He gave each of the young dragons a hug in turn, then waved them off as they forgot their excitement over him to pursue new adventures.

_You okay?_ Toothless worried over Hiccup as he stood up to dust himself off. He'd arrived just as the younger dragons left, so wasn't sure of the effects they'd had.

_Yeah,_ Hiccup nodded slightly, patting himself down in inspection. _No broken bones or concussions this time. And, as you can see, I'm still conscious._

Toothless sighed in relief. _So, flight?_

* * *

_What next? What next?_ Ugg and Lee chanted, wings flapping desperately to keep them hovering off the ground. Their tails still dragged a little.

_Flying practice!_ Fireworm announced, jumping to give himself some lift before he tried to hover like the zippleback. He managed to float just a little above the two, wearing a smug grin as he looked down at them.

_You think _that's_ impressive?_ Sleekscales challenged, _Look what_ I_ can do!_

The nadder then proceeded to run up to a group of nearby Viking children. She leant down slightly, motioning for one of them to get on her back.

A young girl was the first to step forwards, boldly jumping straight onto Sleekscales. "Let's fly!" the young girl commanded, pointing to the skies.

Sleekscales obeyed readily, lifting slowly but steadily into the air. Vikings and dragons alike shared a moment of awe at the two in the air.

"Look at me! I'm the chief!" the human shouted to her peers.

_And I'm Toothless!_ Sleekscales announced, _I'm the fastest and bestest dragon in _ever!

With enough riders for every dragon to have one each, the children of each species spent the next few hours pretending to be the heroes of Berk. The sun was setting by the time their parents turned up.

The Viking children all followed their parents off to the Great Hall for lunch, saying a quick goodbye to the dragons that would likely one day become their partners as they went. _Right,_ Stormfly said as they left, _Time for you to get to bed, now._

_Aww!_ the disappointed dragons chorused, _But I'm not tired!_ Even as they made the insistence, each broke out into a large yawn.

_I'm so awake... I could fly round... round all of Berk!_ Fireworm boasted tiredly.

_Well I could... I... I'm awake..._ Sleekscales started to say, but was interrupted as she drifted off completely. Stormfly rolled her eyes affectionately and picked the youngling up.

_I'm gonna have a nap,_ Laze decided, falling asleep instantly while still stood up.

One by one, each of the younger dragons dropped off to sleep, leaving their parents to take them home after a long day's playing.

* * *

**Next it should be the nest building, which should be getting to you in about a day.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/n: Note a change in speech - dragons now speak like _'this'_, because it gets too hard to follow when thoughts are like **_**this. **_**I'll go back and change it for the rest of the chapters soon. (This is a compilation of various people's ideas.)**

* * *

_'Shut up you guys!' _Hiccup shouted. The crowd didn't quieten. _Oh, yeah. _he thought. "Shut up!

Finally the group of Vikings stopped talking. Hiccup jumped on the opportunity to speak uninterrupted before the quiet mutters could devolve into a shouting match again.

"Now we're all here," Hiccup gestured grandly to the - much quieter - crowd of dragons behind him, "We can discuss the nest."

"What nest?" a Viking called out.

Hiccup sighed. He cared for each of the residents of Berk, but _gods _could they be annoying sometimes. "Back at the dragon sanctuary, there was a nest" Hiccup explained, verging on being patronising. "We aren't at the sanctuary, but we still need a nest."

"No we don't!" another Viking yelled, "We have houses!"

"Yeah!" someone else agreed, "Why are we here?"

_'Shut up!' _This time, despite it being the call of a dragon that told them to stop, the entire village ceased talking at once. Toothless, glowing blue slightly in authoritative anger, was the one who had shouted for silence.

"Thanks, bud," Hiccup smiled at the night fury. He spoke louder to address the crowd: "We need to compromise! If we can all come up with a nest design that suits us, I can build it."

General noises of agreement started from the crowd, voices chiming in in Norse and Dragonese alike.

"So... any suggestions?"

The silence was palpable. _This is about as successful as -_

_'How about we use the ice?' _Cloudjumper came as salvation to Hiccup's sarcastic inner monologue. _'There's loads of it everywhere, and no one can melt it.'_

_'_I _can,' _Toothless boasted proudly, letting his blue alpha fire flare up in demonstration.

_'Not everyone has your amazing power, oh great one,' _Stormfly rolled her eyes. Astrid petted her happily, understanding a few of her words due to her Dragonese lessons but primarily noticing the way Stormfly seemed proud of her response to Toothless's boastfulness.

"Anyway," Hiccup coughed pointedly, "That's a great idea. We'll make the nest out of that. Now, where should we build it?" He directed the question more towards the Vikings this time.

"In the forest!" Fishlegs suggested. "It's close enough to reach them easily, but far away enough that nobody gets in anyone else's way!"

"Great idea!" Hiccup praised, "So, we can find a place in the forest..."

_'How about that cove!' _Meatlug said. Hiccup pulled a face. The cove was his and Toothless's last truly private spot. Building a nest, which would be constantly filled with dragons, in that space... Hiccup didn't like the idea.

_A chief puts the needs of his tribe above his own,' _he reminded himself mentally. Watching Toothless's face set in determination, he realised that they both had the same qualms, and had both come to the same decision.

"Great!" Hiccup lied, trying to sound happy, "We'll start tomorrow!"

The Vikings and dragons grumbled in contentment as the two crowds dispersed.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Astrid asked. She'd chased after Hiccup once the meeting ended, but he'd managed to get away from her. She'd later found him while flying with Stormfly over the island, but he had been in the cove. Now, now that Hiccup was no longer preoccupied by chiefly duties or hiding away in the forest, she could talk.

"Yeah," Hiccup insisted. "A chief puts the needs of his tribe above his own." he added, "Both me and Toothless agree."

"If you're sure..." Astrid said uncertainly. There was nothing she could do to stop him now that he'd decided; he was both headstrong and a chief, so she couldn't change his mind easily. Besides, he and Hiccup still had the skies.

* * *

Outside, a similar conversation was playing out between Toothless and Stormfly.

_'Really? You're totally okay with this?' _Stormfly checked, not believing Toothless.

'Okay,_ so not completely.'_ he admitted,_ 'But Hiccup can deal with it, so I can too.'_

_'Where are you two going to go now, then?' _Stormfly wondered. There really weren't that many places on Berk that had any privacy, except perhaps your own home. And with being a chief and alpha respectively, neither Hiccup nor Toothless could really achieve that semblance of privacy.

_'I don't know. Maybe go and find some cave somewhere and live in that.' _Toothless joked. Stormfly laughed along for a bit, then froze.

_'Tunnels...'_ she murmured,_ 'I've got an idea! See you in a bit!'_

_'Wait! Where are you going?' _Toothless yelled after the nadder. She didn't reply, or even look back, as she flew off.

* * *

The next day, Hiccup, Toothless, and a group of Viking and dragon volunteers all stood in the cove.

"Right..." Hiccup said, voice slightly strained, "Let's start."

_'Wait!' _A yell from above halted the proceedings, and everyone looked up to see Stormfly flying urgently towards them, another dragon in tow.

"Is that... a whispering death?" Hiccup asked rhetorically. Indeed, the long spiralled body and overly large head belonged to a whispering death. _What's that doing here?_

"Stormfly!" Astrid shouted, jumping up to pet her dragon, "Where were you?" she asked, voice betraying her relief.

_'I had an idea!' _Stormfly explained. _'See, we can get the whispering death to dig some caves for us!'_

_'Where?' _Toothless wondered. He wanted the idea to work - especially if it meant he and Hiccup could keep the cave - but he knew it needed to be a good idea, one that would work.

_'I found some cliffs near the edge of town. Me and the whispering death discussed it, and he agrees that we could build a nest there!'_

_'That's great!' _Hiccup smiled. "Change of plans guys! We're going to the cliffs!"

* * *

With the whispering death to help them, the nest was created in a few hours, and all the dragons were easily settled into their new homes. The ice from Drago's bewilderbeast was still used, though it was to make the caves feel more like home rather than to craft an entire nest from it.

_'I'd say this day was quite successful,' _Toothless decided, sitting down next to Stormfly as both of their riders enjoyed their tea. _'Thanks for helping.' _he added, _'Now we still have the cove!'_

_'Hey, what're friends for?' _


	18. Chapter 18

**A/n: Excellinor gets a mention here, but I don't feel as though I know the character enough to write her accurately.**

* * *

Why did I agree to this again?"

"You didn't. If I remember correctly, your words were: 'No. Never.' But here we are anyway."

Hiccup sighed. Astrid was right: he /hadn't/ accepted. Unfortunately, the Viking tribes had all thought to add a small note at the end explaining that they would be turning up whether he let them or not. He simply didn't answer; there was no point.

"Ah, there's the first ship. Joy." Hiccup said sarcastically. Indeed, there was a boat on the horizon now, moving with typical Viking vigour to reach Berk. The Vikings from other tribes had heard of Stoick's death and Hiccup's subsequent rise to chiefdom. Naturally, this was cause for a grand celebration. And instead of inviting him round to one of their many islands, they had decided to bring the party to him. It was less effort that way - for them at least.

"Hey Hiccup!" a cheery voice called out as the boat arrived at the dock. A small Viking, even smaller than Hiccup himself and twice as scrawny-looking, popped out, grinning devilishly.

"Hey Camicazi." Hiccup greeted, considerably less impressed. It wasn't that he hated the girl, far from it - they were friends, but she could be... overbearing, at times.

Camicazi leapt of the boat, followed by a stream of other Vikings from her village. "Where's Bertha?" Hiccup asked, peering around Camicazi - she was in his face, as usual - to look for the Viking's mother, and chief of the tribe.

"Didn't come." Camicazi explained cheerily. "Thinks I can 'go on my own now'. Pah! I could go on my own when I was five."

'Oh gods, no.' Hiccup restrained the urge to hit his head on the nearest wall. There was no one to restrain the girl now.

"Well, let's go greet the village!" Camicazi decided, grabbing Hiccup's hand and towing him off.

"But the other -"

"They can be greeted by Astrid!" Camicazi waved off the concern, "Come on! We have people to greet!"

"And dragons..."

* * *

The two arrived at the village in record time, with Camicazi pulling Hiccup along. He mentally thanked the gods for keeping her away from him while he was still adjusting to his leg; it could've only ended in injury.

'_Toothless!'_ Hiccup shouted when he finally regained control of his legs, '_Come meet my friend!_

"What was /that?/" Camicazi asked, looking at Hiccup with a mix of awe and confusion.

"Dragonese." Hiccup explained. He'd told every tribe about the dragons by now, and some were more receptive to the idea than others. Everyone had come to terms with it eventually, and a few tribes were discussing having Hiccup teach them how to train dragons. Hiccup himself thought it was a great idea, and planned to propose it tonight at the feast.

"Wow. Trust you to do something like that." Camicazi said. "So, what did you say?"

"I called Toothless over." Hiccup explained. At the mention of the dragon, Camicazi perked up.

"Oh wow! Can I see him?" Camicazi asked excitedly, not noticing the dragon creeping up behind her in her excitement.

"He's right behind you." Hiccup revealed, unable to hold in his laugh as Camicazi span round, jumping slightly when she realised that there was, in fact, a dragon right behind her.

"Wow!" Camicazi beamed, impressed at Toothless's stealth. "What's he called?"

"Toothless." Hiccup answered. '_Hey bud, show her why.'_

Toothless obediently demonstrated his ability, first showing Camicazi a gummy smile. Just as she was marvelling over a dragon without teeth - "he's adorable" - Toothless revealed his trick. Camicazi jumped back as she found herself confronted with a full set of deadly sharp teeth, letting out another yelp. "You're conspiring against me!" she accused.

Hiccup laughed. "Yeah." he admitted, "But it _was_ funny."

"Suppose so..." Camicazi agreed, now petting Toothless as though she'd known him for weeks. "So, how's life on Berk?"

"About as good as you can expect, given we were nearly killed by a massive dragon not too long ago."

"Hmm..." Camicazi said, not at all interested, "Well, _I've _been bored out of my wits, but I've been having a _great _time," she continued sarcastically, "Got to spend some quality time with _Excellinor._"

Hiccup didn't remember much about Excellinor, other than that the old woman had been particularly cranky and didn't seem to like children at all. He remembered her vaguely from gatherings of the tribes when he was younger, only seven or eight, but when she stopped turning up he had simply assumed her dead. "She's still alive?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"She didn't come with, did she?" Hiccup checked, looking about nervously as though she was about to step out to meet them.

"Oh, no." Camicazi assured, "She's still technically a prisoner. I think. It's all very unclear... I don't know how she even ended up anywhere near the Bog Burglars!"

"Strange..." Hiccup said thoughtfully. He expected that the old woman would've convinced another tribe to take her on after her relation to Alvin the Treacherous got her chucked out of Berk. "Well, at least she isn't here."

Camicazi nodded. "So, where are the other dragons?"

* * *

That night, the feast was a huge success. There was dancing and games were held in Hiccup's honour, ranging from the typical Viking arm wrestle to the even more typical Viking boasting session. In the middle of the celebratory chaos, Hiccup stood up on one of the tables.

"Quiet!" he called, gaining the attention of a few people close to him. _'Shut up guys!' _Hiccup gave his best impersonation of a roar, which worked well enough to stun most Vikings into quiet. A few murmurs broke out, and Hiccup rushed on with his speech. "I'm sure you're all enjoying the festivities, but I have an announcement to make. Or a question, for the representatives of the clans. Do you want dragon training?"

"Of course!" Camicazi shouted without hesitation. "That's a great idea!"

Seeing the enthusiasm of one, the Vikings started to agree with the first to answer. It was an interesting thing about Vikings, the way they behaved like they were part of a hive-mind.

"Dragon taraining it is then." Hiccup smiled. "So, when should we start?"

"Tomorrow!"


	19. Chapter 19

**A/n: A continuation of the last chapter. I'm running out of ideas again... help!**

* * *

"The first thing to know about dragons is that mine's the best!"

"What? No!" Hiccup shoved Snotlout off the bucket he'd upended, sending him crashing into a trough full of water.

"Oh come on!" Snotlout complained, "I wasn't even on fire that time!"

"_Anyway,_" Hiccup said pointedly, "The actual first rule is that -"

"You need to earn their trust," Snotlout interrupted, sounding bored, "I know. We _all _know."

"Well they _didn't _know." Hiccup argued. He sighed; trust Snotlout to show him up in front of the other tribes. After the enthusiasm of the other Vikings to start learning, Hiccup hadn't been able to deny them dragon training sessions. So, the morning after the feast, he and the leaders of the other tribes (or the leaders of the trip, in Camicazi's case) had come out to get an early start.

"When do we get to ride them?" Thuggory, leader of the Meathead tribe and one of the more reasonable Vikings, asked. His tapping foot betrayed his growing impatience.

"Once you've learnt how to deal with them," Hiccup explained patiently. "Now, I'm going to bring out a dragon, then show you how to calm him."

Hiccup walked over to the other side of the arena, where a monstrous nightmare was hiding. "He's a bit shy," he warned as he brought the dragon forwards, whispering comforting words to him in Dragonese. Once he reached the Vikings, he grabbed Thuggory's hand and guided it to the nightmare's nose.

"...Hey..." Thuggory greeted the dragon awkwardly, slowly moving his hand up and down to rub the nightmare's nose. He smiled when the dragon leant into his touch.

"Great!" Hiccup smiled, "You make a good pair. And this little guy doesn't have a rider yet, so..."

"Really?" Thuggory checked, looking back at Hiccup slightly without moving his hand from the dragon. "So soon?"

"Of course! I can tell he likes you."

_'Only because I told you before!' _Hiccup laughed at the dragon's accusation. The other Vikings looked at him oddly - apart from Camicazi, who smirked - but didn't comment on his seemingly random laughter.

"So, what's its name?" Thuggory asked.

"_His _name," Hiccup corrected, "And he doesn't have one. He's one of the newer dragons round here, which is why I brought him out. Thought he could get a rider. And now, you get to name him!"

"How about... Killer?" Thuggory suggested.

_'You like it?' _Hiccup checked, and the nightmare nodded. "It's official!" Hiccup announced. "What are you looking at?"

The group - again, excluding Camicazi - were all staring at Hiccup in slack-mouthed awe. Hiccup recognised the expression, though he hadn't seen it on a Berk resident's face in some time; they'd all got used to him speaking Dragonese by now, and were actually growing tired of occasionally being unable to understand him. Not that they were making any real efforts to understand the language: they were too lazy. The dragons understood that not everyone could be bothered though, and simply called for Hiccup whenever communication errors cropped up.

"_That _was Dragonese!" Camicazi explained. "Isn't it cool?" The other Vikings nodded, getting over the shock now. "So, where's _my _dragon?"

"Right behind you!" Hiccup revealed.

Camicazi swivelled around to see... nothing. Other than the Vikings behind her, who were all just as confused as she was.

"There's nothing there," she insisted, but even as she did she began to question that. Now that she thought about it, she _had_ been getting the feeling that something was behind her. And she was a Bog Burglar; no one could sneak up on her. Apparently that claim didn't hold for dragons.

_'You can come out now,'_ Hiccup said, and suddenly everyone understood what he'd meant. There had been a dragon behind them the entire time: a changewing.

"Wow!" Camicazi gasped, jumping up to the dragon. "That's so cool!"

_'Of course.'_ the dragon responded,_ 'I hear you're good with stealth, too?'_

"Ooh! What's she saying?" Camicazi demanded, staring at Hiccup excitedly.

"That she shares your liking for being sneaky." Hiccup translated. "I think you two'll get along fine. So, name?"

"Hmm... What does she want to be called?"

_'Cloak,'_ the changewing suggested.

"What was that? Graarg?" Camicazi guessed.

"No," Hiccup chuckled at the outlandish thought, "It's Cloak. You like it?"

"It's great!" Camicazi decided. "Now, can we ride them?"

* * *

It was almost half an hour before Camicazi's wish came true. The other Vikings all had a dragon by now, and they'd all named them, some more effectively than others.

"Okay guys, let's get in the air." Hiccup instructed. "Can anyone guess what the first step is?"

"To get on the dragon?" Snotlout chimed in sarcastically.

Hiccup sighed. "Yes, Snotlout. But I was actually thinking of asking the ones who _didn't_ already know that." he said. "Well, since you all already know now, you might as well get on." Hiccup whistled to Hookfang, who happily grabbed Snotlout between his jaws and carried him out of the academy, despite his protests.

The dragons all crouched down to allow their new riders easier access. Everyone managed to hop on with little difficulty, and soon it was time to actually take off.

"Woah!" Camicazi yelled as she and Cloak took off, "This is amazing!"

"Yeah, that's usually the reaction." Hiccup agreed as they started to gain altitude. _'Okay, we're gonna go a bit faster now. No tricks; they're still new to this.' _he warned. The dragons nodded, speeding up to keep pace with Hiccup and Toothless.

"This is great!" a Viking yelled out, patting his gronkle fondly, "Can't wait to show everyone else."

"Yes," Hiccup agreed, "Dragons really are amazing creatures." He leant down to Toothless's ear: _'So bud, ready to show them something truly amazing?'_

Toothless nodded, sticking his wings out to glide as Hiccup locked the tail into place. Hiccup stood up on his back, turning round to face the others. "I think we've gained enough height." he told them. "Are you ready to do this without my help?"

A few of the others nodded, Camicazi yelling out to proclaim her readiness. "Great," Hiccup said shortly, "Then you won't be needing me. Goodbye!"

And with that, Hiccup stepped off Toothless. The riders all shouted out in surprise as he dropped out of view, all looking down. The dragons, already used to dramatic antics after living in the presence of both Hiccup and Valka, simply rolled their eyes. Eventually the Vikings noticed that their companions showed no concern, and they realised that they shouldn't be too worried. From what they'd seen so far, all dragons were widely protective of the young chief, so they would've done something if he was really falling to his doom.

"So where is he?" Thuggory wondered, nudging Killer to get him to fly over to Toothless. He checked under the dragon, but Hiccup wasn't hidden under there.

"Over here!" a voice - Hiccup's - shouted from under them. Of course, nobody had even thought to simply look down. Everyone leant over their dragons to see Hiccup, arms spread out and leather wings attached to them, gliding a few metres below.

"So dramatic..." Camicazi told the others, "Of course, I already knew he was okay, but I had to pretend not to so you'd still react."

Hiccup snorted; it was highly unlikely. "Well, that was good of you," he played along, "because you should've seen your faces!"


	20. Chapter 20

**A/n: This idea comes from Emerald has been Cumberbatched! (I love all the ideas btw, so I plan on writing all three!)**

* * *

_'So, what now?'_ Hiccup asked. Both he and Toothless were enjoying one of their rare days of, in the typical fashion. They'd spent the entire say perfecting some of their more dangerous stunts, resulting in more than a few soakings. Now, they were relaxing - and drying off - on one of the small islands they'd found before they became alpha and chief respectively.

_'More flying!'_ Toothless decided, jumping around in anticipation of being back in the sky again.

_'But we just landed!'_ Hiccup complained, flopping back against the grass. Toothless flopped onto him in protest, squashing his rider.

_'Fine, Mr Bossy, we'll go, just let me -'_ Hiccup was interrupted by another dragon's call. Three dragons, the type of which Hiccup had never seen before, landed in front of them. Toothless got off Hiccup and growled.

_'It's okay bud,'_ Hiccup soothed. _'What do you want?'_ he asked, louder this time so that his voice carried over to the dragons.

_'So _you're_ the dragon whisperer.'_ one, a large grey and blue dragon noted. _'I thought you'd be... bigger.'_

_'Sorry to disappoint,'_ Hiccup joked. The three dragons didn't react to his humour. _'Tough crowd,'_ he whispered to Toothless.

_'And this is your dragon?'_ the second dragon, smaller than the first but more aggressive looking, checked. He looked Toothless up and down disdainfully. _'He isn't as good as I thought he'd be. Certainly not good enough for someone of your greatness.'_

_'I'm plenty good enough!'_ Toothless growled, held back barely by Hiccup's steadying hand.

_'Rise above it...'_ he said gently, looking at the dragons with a controlled gaze. _'And I suppose you think you're better?'_

_'Naturally.'_ the third confirmed. He was the largest of the group, but had the smallest wings, wings which were a light red despite his otherwise turquoise colouring. _'And we'll prove it.'_

The largest dragon crouched down, glaring at Toothless, who growled in response, equally prepared to fight. _'Don't!'_ Hiccup yelled, but neither dragon listened. Hiccup leapt between the two, hands stretched out to stop them. Toothless paused instantly when he noticed that his partner was in the firing line, but the other dragon didn't notice Hiccup. He sprang at him, talons out and ready to strike.

He was surprised, then, when he was stopped mid-jump by something in his way. He looked down to see Hiccup squashed beneath him, and stood up.

'Shame he got in the way.' the first to speak said uncaringly. _'We'll be on our way now.'_

Toothless growled. He wanted to follow immediately, but needed to check if Hiccup was okay. He spared a quick glance at the Viking, slumped on the floor and unconscious. _He'll be okay,_ he decided quickly, seeing no blood and noticing the rise and fall of his chest from breathing. _For now, at least._

Toothless's eyes narrowed as he looked away from his rider and over at the dragons that had hurt him.

* * *

Hiccup opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the harshness of the sunlight. He was mildly aware of a presence by his side, someone hovering over him nervously, but his head hurt too much for him to want to look over there. "What..." he mumbled weakly.

_'Hiccup!'_ Toothless suddenly came into view, concern visible on his face. _'Are you okay?'_

"What... What?" Hiccup asked, not quite feeling up to Dragonese.

_'That idiot dragon jumped on you. He must've landed on your head ad knocked you out. I don't think he got you with those claws though... Did he?"_

Hiccup patted himself down, finding no signs of blood. _'I don't think so.'_ he notified the worried dragon.

_'Great!'_ Toothless's mood switched immediately to that of an excited puppy, _'Then lets go back!'_

_'Okay, but slowly,'_ Hiccup agreed. _'I'm a bit dizzy now...'_

Toothless growled a bit at the thought of his friend hurting, then grinned evilly at the memory of what he did to the ones who did it.

_'Toothless,'_ Hiccup said warningly, dragging out the dragon's name, _'What did you do?'_

* * *

_'Excuse me,'_ Toothless said slowly, coming up behind the dragons. _'I do believe you forgot to apologise.'_

_'What for? Showing you up?'_ the taller dragon jeered, baring his yellowing teeth. _'Hurting your precious rider?'_

_'He was a bit scrawny, wasn't he? Useless as you!'_ another chimed in, eyes flashing through various colours as he spoke.

_'Hiccup is _not_ useless!'_ Toothless growled, crouching down and preparing to spring.

_'And you! Stooping to such lows to _befriend_ a human!'_ the same dragon continued as if Toothless didn't speak.

_'Funny.'_ Toothless commented with a smirk, _'It sounded like you wanted to do just that a few minutes ago. How interesting.'_

_'Shut up!'_ the turquoise dragon snapped. He started to circle Toothless, and noticed the bright red of his prosthetic tailfin. _'Oh, you really_ are_ useless.'_ he sneered, _'Don't you know that a downed dragon's a dead one?'_

At that, Toothless snapped. He lunged for the trio, holding all three of them down despite his smaller size. He glowed blue as he felt his alpha powers charging, preparing a shot that could easily kill all three of the dragons.

_'Leave.'_ he ordered, speaking clearly around the growing ball of plasma, _'Or you'll be leaving permanently.'_

The dragons didn't need to be told twice. They all jumped up, flying off hurriedly without another word.

_'Good riddance.'_ Toothless muttered. _'Hiccup!'_ he shouted, remembering the injured Viking that he'd left behind. He hurried over to him and waited nervously for him to wake.

* * *

_'What makes you think I did something?'_ Toothless asked innocently, staring sweetly at Hiccup.

_'That expression, for starters,'_ Hiccup explained. _'Please tell me you didn't...'_

_'No,'_ Toothless assured. _'Just showed them how_ useless_ I was. They won't be coming back in a hurry.'_

Hiccup sighed, wanting to tell Toothless off but honestly quite happy with what he'd done_. 'Thanks,'_ he said eventually, getting a slight nod in return.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/n: This is another of Emerald has been Cumberbatched's ideas. (If you've put a suggestion up, don't worry; I'm doing them in order of when I get them, so yours will be done eventually)**  
**In response to trystrike: I might give it a try, (heh) but I'm not the best at romance, really, and I don't actually have ****_any_**** romantic ships, (they're all platonic and friendshippy) so I apologise in advance for its potential rubbishness.**

* * *

It was a lovely day. The terrible terrors were chirping, the sun was actually shining, and the occasional sheep was being flung across the village by an over excited dragon. There hadn't even been any injuries yet (save for those occasional sheep). So it was no surprise that Hiccup was capitalising on the moment of calm by spending it with Toothless. The two lay in the middle of a patch of the grass dragons loved so much, watching the sheep fly by.

_'Hiccup!' _Cloudjumper's voice cut through the moment of tranquillity. Hiccup sat up, startled, and turned to see Valka's dragon floating quietly behind him, trusted rider on his back.

_'Hey Cloudjumper, mum.' _he greeted. Valka frowned in concentration for a second before smiling.

_'Hello.' _she replied. Valka had been taking the Dragonese lessons too, and was making excellent progress. Her and her son had taken to conversing only in Dragonese now; primarily, it was for practice, but it also gave them a nice sense of privacy in their chats.

_'What brings you here then?' _Hiccup asked while Valka hopped off Cloudjumper.

_'I wanted to see Toothless!' _Valka answered, walking over to the night fury and scratching his face affectionately. _'He really is fascinating.'_

Hiccup rolled his eyes. Having a vigilante dragon lady for a mother could be irritating sometimes. Case in point: she would rarely come just to talk to Hiccup; the dragons always came first. Not that he was really much different, but it was getting pretty predictable now.

_'So, what crazy thing do you want to do today to "unlock this amazing beast's secrets"?' _Hiccup asked sarcastically. He silently hoped that she didn't want to test his accuracy again; that little test had ruined all his good shields.

_'I want to go for a ride!'_

_Oh, something easy then. Great! _Hiccup thought. _'Okay, let me just get on, and we'll go!'_

_'Oh, no,' _Valka laughed, _'_I _want to ride him!'_

_'Oh.' _Hiccup stopped halfway through climbing onto Toothless's back. Although entirely possible, that could take up some time. He knew from experience in teaching Astrid to use the tailfin that it could be difficult. Really, the best way to learn was the way Hiccup himself had: get into a life-or-death situation where one wrong move would result in you becoming a smear on a rock. That wasn't the ideal way to go about it, but it _was _the fastest.

_'So, I'll teach you the controls for the tailfin first, then we can go!' _Hiccup said finally, stepping away from Toothless to let Valka hop onto him. _'Okay, this one makes it go...' _Hiccup pressed the gear and demonstrated each position. _'The hard part is knowing when to switch to which position.'_

_'Great! Now let's go!' _Valka shouted, clicking Toothless's fin to the take-off position. Toothless, slightly confused but willing to fly, complied with Valka's wishes.

_'Wait!' _Hiccup shouted from where he'd been left on the ground, despite the high probability that he was already out of earshot. _'You didn't even learn everything!'_

_'You might as well follow,' _Cloudjumper said resignedly, _'Hop on.' _he offered, and Hiccup jumped neatly onto his back.

* * *

It took Hiccup several hours to find Toothless and his mother. "What were you thinking!" he snapped as he jumped off Cloudjumper, not speaking in Dragonese due to his rage.

_'It's fine!' _Valka laughed dismissively, _'Toothless sure can fly, can't he? Amazing!'_

Toothless snorted. _'Don't listen to her.' _Toothless advised, _'I spent the whole time yelling at her which position the damned gear was supposed to be in...'_


	22. Chapter 22

**A/n: This was the last of Emerald has been Cumberbatched's three ideas. That means that trystrike's one is next (yep, I'm doing it, just without shipping. It's a cute idea!)**

* * *

_'What now?' _Toothless asked. Both he and Cloudjumper had spent the majority of the day helping the various dragons around the island, and now they had nothing to do. Usually this would be the point when Toothless sought out Hiccup and the two would go on a flight together, but today Hiccup was going to be working at the forge all day.

_'Go for a flight?' _Cloudjumper suggested. At Toothless's unimpressed glance, he corrected himself: _'Sorry. I don't know then. How about we talk to Hiccup?'_

_'Might as well.' _Toothless agreed. If Hiccup wasn't going to go on a flight with him, the least he could do was have a chat.

* * *

"Hey bud..." Hiccup greeted, hefting a hammer onto the table in front of him, "What brings you here?"

_'Flying!' _Toothless said happily, swinging his tail around to demonstrate and knocking a group of swords off their shelf in the process.

"Not now bud," Hiccup said, going over and picking the misplaced weapons up. Toothless smacked him in the head with his tail accidentally as he walked over, sending him flying into the shelves. "Toothless!" he complained, rubbing his head as he sat up and tried to brush the collection of sharp objects off himself without getting injured.

_'Come on...' _Cloudjumper instructed, knowing when to give up. Toothless shook his head stubbornly and glared at Hiccup.

"Fine," the chief relented, "If you want to fly that badly, you can use the automatic fin." Toothless growled. "Oh, come on! I'm busy! I'll take it off in a bit, and we'll have a _proper _flight. Until then, it's that or nothing."

Toothless sighed. _'Fine.' _he agreed moodily. Hiccup nodded, expecting the result, and walked into his space. Neither dragon was small enough to follow, so they simply sat and listened as Hiccup knocked over various things and robably fell over himself a few times in his efforts to retrieve the tail, which hadn't been used since Toothless returned it after that first Snoggletog. Hiccup returned and Toothless bowed down, letting Hiccup attach the fin. _'It's gonna be a really long flight.'_

_'All night!' _Hiccup promised with a laugh as the two dragons left the forge. "Now... where was I?"

* * *

_'What's wrong?' _Cloudjumper asked, looking at Toothless in concern. The two had set off to have a flight a few hours ago, but the younger dragon had been a lot less enthusiastic than he usually was. _'Is it really that different without Hiccup?'_

_'Yes,' _Toothless snapped. _'It's not even worth it without him.' _The alpha sighed and started to land, coming back into the village.

_'Well, what should we do instead?' _Cloudjumper asked, not wanting his friend to be unhappy.

Toothless looked around for a bit, then his eyes landed on Snotlout. _'I have an idea...'_

* * *

"Who's there?" Snotlout asked nervously. There was no reply.

For the last few minutes, he'd been getting the distinct feeling that someone was following him. He just couldn't see anyone who could be doing it. A sudden bang behind him made him jump around, but there was still no one there. A bucket rolled into view, just having fallen over.

"Calm down Snotlout..." he told himself unconvincingly, "There's nothing there..."

"Hey Snotlout."

"Aaah!" Snotlout yelled, spinning around again to find himself face to face with Astrid. She smirked at his reaction.

"Scared?"

"What? No!" Snotlout denied, "I'm _never _scared!"

"That explains the screaming." Astrid smiled.

"Shut up! I'm being followed by someone!" he whispered loudly to her. She smiled again.

"Someone like... two dragons?" she asked, looking behind him.

"Yeah!" he agreed, turning round to again see nothing. "Have you seen any?"

"Can't say I have!" Astrid laughed. "Good luck finding them!"

Behind a nearby house, Cloudjumper and Toothless were barely able to contain their laughter. _'This was a great idea!' _Cloudjumper whispered, _'We need to do this more often!'_


	23. Chapter 23

**A/n: At last, here's trystrike's idea, and, I think, the last of the suggestions in general. I suppose you could read it for romance if you want, but nothing of that nature actually happens...  
Still: enjoy!**

* * *

_'Do we have to?'_

_'Yes you have to. I'm too busy, and you said you would!'_

Toothless grumbled irritably. He honestly couldn't remember agreeing to babysit all of his friends' children, but it was somehow unsurprising that he ended up getting roped into such a task. _'Fine.'_ he relented, turning to the hyperactive hatchlings he'd be spending the next few hours trapped with. _'But they'd better behave.'_

_'I'm sure they will,'_ Hiccup laughed at his partner's misfortune, _'You're the alpha, remember?'_

Toothless sighed. _'And how come you get out of it?'_ he asked accusingly.

_'_I'm _spending some time with Astrid. I've heard it's a thing most normal couples do.'_ Hiccup teased, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

_'Just great.'_ Toothless moaned, turning back to the young dragons.

_'Toothless!'_ they yelled excitedly.

The alpha dragon sighed.

* * *

_'Help!'_

_'Toothless? What -'_

_'No time. Just_ help_!'_ Toothless yelled, running past Stormfly. The nadder frowned; the last she'd seen of Toothless, he'd been complaining about some baby dragons he had to look after - one of whom was actually hers. What was he doing running around the village?

_'Toothless!'_ Her answer came in the form of four dragons, all running after the poor night fury. They seemed ecstatic to be in his presence, and with good reason; Toothless was a hero among dragons, on Berk and beyond, as the one who'd helped release them all from the Green Death's control.

Stormfly stepped out in front of the smaller dragons to stop them. _'Okay, calm down.'_ she instructed, doing her best to not get them any more excited.

_'Hey mum!'_ Sleekscales called out, grinning wildly. _'We're playing with Toothless!'_

_'I can see that,'_ Stormfly laughed. _'So, how about we all go_ inside_ to play?'_

_'But then our riders won't be able to come along!'_

_Riders?_ Fireworm's concerned comment confused Stormfly slightly. Dragons usually didn't start training until they could properly fly and carry humans, and none of the four in front of her could do that quite yet.

_'Their friends,'_ Toothless supplied, noticing her confused expression. _'They should turn up soon enough.'_

And true to Toothless's word, a bunch of young Vikings barrelled through at that very moment, all crashing into their dragon friends. Stormfly smiled fondly at the growing bond between the younger generations. _'I'm sure they can come back inside with us,'_ she assured gently.

The children followed her and Toothless back to Hiccup's house, where they immediately set about resuming their play.

_'What're they doing?'_ Stormfly asked Toothless, watching the children as they started gathering in a circle.

_'Plotting against me, no doubt,_' Toothless said dramatically, _'They've been demanding I let them ride me all day, yelling nonsense about being Hiccup.'_

Stormfly laughed a bit at the mental image Toothless's words created, but stopped at the irritated look he gave her._ 'Don't worry,'_ she said with a joking dramatic tone, _'I'll protect you!'_

But she failed in that mission, as one of the young female Vikings managed to get on her back. "I'm Astrid!" the girl claimed proudly, hands on hips in confidence as she sat on the nadder's back.

"And I'm Hiccup!" the boy sat on Toothless announced, "So you have to marry me!"

Stormfly laughed at the child's statement. Toothless just groaned.

* * *

After a long and happy day spent together with his girlfriend, Hiccup was happy to return home. He was even happier to note that the house was still standing, though he did dread the sight he'd be met with inside.

_'Toothless?'_ he asked quietly as he entered, not sure if his dragon would've attempted to get the children to go to sleep or not. As it turned out, he had.

"Aww..." Hiccup smiled slightly at the sight. Toothless lay in the middle of a pile of sleeping children, both dragons and Vikings alike. His wings were draped loosely around them, acting as their blanket.

On the other side of Toothless, Stormfly was leant against the stairs, curled around her own young. It appeared that the two had grown too tired from caring for the children - he wasn't actually surprised that Toothless had managed to rope in someone to help - and had fallen to sleep in their efforts to get the others to do the same.

"How cute," Hiccup commented mildly. He noticed that Stormfly had blocked his only way to his bedroom, so he made his way over to Toothless and settled in to his open-winged blanket. _'Night, bud.'_


	24. Chapter 24

**A/n: A bit of an idea from guest.**

* * *

"What're you working on now?" Astrid asked, watching Hiccup attempt to pick up a hammer. She laughed slightly at his efforts; it always surprised her that, after spending so much time working with the tools in the forge, he _still _couldn't lift them properly.

"I was just clearing up after Gobber."

Well, that explained the hammer, at least. "What were you working on before? Adjustments to Toothless's tail?"

Hiccup nodded, retreating further into the forge to grab his work. "Ta da!" he said triumphantly, lifting it up to show her.

"I... see..." Astrid didn't see. _Nothing's changed..._

"It's a new feature I've been working on," Hiccup explained. In all honesty, he hadn't expected her to notice the subtle changes, "It lets me switch between me controlling the tail and Toothless controlling it. Pretty handy, huh?"

"Yeah," Astrid agreed. "But... doesn't Toothless kinda... _hate _that tail?"

"Oh, sure," Hiccup confirmed, "But I'm sure he'll warm up to the idea. It isn't the tail he hates, after all; it's flying without me!"

"If you're sure..." Astrid said sceptically.

* * *

_'Oh, come on!' _Hiccup pleaded. _'It'll mean that you can catch me if I fall...' _he said enticingly.

Toothless shook his head steadfastly. _'Or, you could just not fall.' _he said, but Hiccup could tell that he was cracking.

_'It'll help you with our alpha duties...'_

_'Fine!' _Toothless snapped, holding his tail down so that Hiccup could reattach the tailfin.

Hiccup smiled. He _knew _that Toothless was going to give in eventually. _'I knew you'd see things my way,' _he told the irritated dragon conversationally, _'I even made it so that _you _control who's controlling the fin.'_

Toothless smirked. _'Great. Let's try it!'_

* * *

"Woo!" Hiccup yelled, soaring through the sky in a way he'd never been able to experience before - at least, not on the back of a night fury.

_'Yes, very impressive.' _Toothless rolled his eyes, highly tempted to do a roll in the air and knock Hiccup off his back.

As Toothless was in control of the prosthetic tail at the moment, Hiccup didn't need to be sat in the same position all the time while switching gears. This meant that he had the freedom to do some of the things that other riders did, like surfing.

"This is amazing!" Hiccup shouted, pumping his fists as Toothless went in for a dive.

_'Yes, I can imagine,' _Toothless responded sarcastically. _'Do you _want _me to drop you?'_

_'Fine, spoilsport.' _Hiccup whined, sitting back down. He rested his head against Toothless's, laying back to look at the clouds as they went by.

_'Hey, Hiccup?' _Toothless said, a mischievous glint entering his eyes that Hiccup didn't notice.

_'Yeah?'_

_'Think fast!'_

Suddenly, the two were falling. "What did you do?" Hiccup screeched, grappling madly for Toothless's saddle.

_'I switched the controls.' _Toothless informed him smugly. Hiccup would've sighed at the dragon's antics had he not been falling several hundred feet to his certain doom. Instead, he clicked his own prosthetic into place just in time to prevent the two from becoming a dragon-Viking pancake and flew back over the sea again.

"Bad dragon!" he scolded, wagging his finger at a laughing Toothless, "You could've killed us!"

Toothless frowned in mock hurt. _'Do you not trust me to catch you?' _he asked innocently.

_'Gods, you useless reptile...' _Hiccup muttered, shaking his head as he allowed Toothless to regain control of the tailfin. _'And no surprises this time!'_

* * *

**I may or may not have taken the 'surprise' bit a bit literally...**


	25. Chapter 25

**A/n: Suggestion from TNT.**

* * *

Toothless sighed, steeling his nerves as he prepared to do the hardest thing he had to do as an alpha.

_'Ready,' _he nodded to Hiccup, who had attended primarily for moral support. The chief nodded and swung the doors to the training facility open.

In came the scuttleclaws.

The young dragons rushed past Hiccup, knocking him onto the floor in their efforts to reach Toothless. The night fury was by no means unused to being barged into by children, both Viking and dragon alike, after living on Berk for five years, but there was a subtle difference between the average youngling and a scuttleclaw.

Namely, the size. The scuttleclaws were nearly the same height as Toothless now, so they knocked him over as easily as they had Hiccup when five of them jumped on him at once. _'Ow...' _he complained, shaking his head as he tried to push the excitable dragons off him, to no avail.

_'Remind me why we have to do this again?' _he asked Hiccup, looking over to his friend. Hiccup was just brushing himself down, shaking his leg a bit before he tried to diffuse the situation.

_'They have to learn at some point.' _Hiccup reasoned. _'It's better doing it now than leaving it until they're actually bigger then you.'_

_'Should've got Hookfang to help.' _Toothless muttered, shaking himself off now that he was scuttleclaw-free thanks to Hiccup's sword. The babies were crowded around the flame now, watching it with interest and following the snaking path Hiccup drew in the air with it. Toothless smiled at their bobbing heads, forgetting for a moment that they were terrifying creatures that brought only doom and despair.

"Woah!" The moment ended abruptly when one of the larger scuttleclaws - a green one recently named Spark - jumped on Hiccup. Hiccup let out a pained laugh as he stopped the sword's fire, trying to bat away the dragon that was doing an excellent job of crushing his ribs. "Can't... breathe..." he wheezed. Spark didn't much care about Hiccup's predicament, attempting to send a blast of fire at his head. It ended up as a weak imitation of the ignition head of a zippleback, as per usual.

_'That's enough.' _Toothless said, using all the authority he could muster. _'Get off him now.'_

Predictably, nobody moved. The only purpose of the session was to get the babies to obey simple commands like the one Toothless had tried, but it wasn't working. _We could be here for some time... _Toothless thought resignedly, padding over to the group, who were all trying to get onto Hiccup now.

_'This isn't going to work, is it?' _Hiccup admitted defeat, still squashed under the children.

_'Probably not. Try again next week?' _Toothless suggested, hefting one of the heavier of the bunch away from his friend. Doing so caused the entire group to switch their attentions, and soon it was Toothless's turn to be squashed and bitten by the still-teething dragons.

_'Yeah.' _Hiccup agreed, and it was decided. Next week, same time and place, they'd congregate again for another exercise in futility.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/n: Here's an idea from a guest. I've got loads of suggestions recently, so thanks! I'm getting onto all off TNT's next (they all sound really fun - it's a good thing I have lots of writing time tomorrow!), then Emerald has been Cumberbatched's, then a few from my friends. So, lots of new chapters!**

* * *

Toothless bounced slightly, staring impatiently at the sleeping Viking in the bed in front of him. Today, he had a great plan, involving Hiccup, his new tail, and a nice dragon that didn't live too far from here.

If only the useless human would just _wake up._

Toothless thought it was highly inconsiderate of Hiccup to choose today, of all days, to sleep in. Sure, he had no duties to be getting on with, and sure, Toothless hadn't _technically _told him that he had plans, not quite yet, at least, but still: very rude. _'Come on...' _Toothless muttered, barely containing his desire to just rip the sheets off Hiccup's bed and wake the chief that way. He would've used that method ages ago, if not for its unfortunate side effect of making Hiccup very grumpy. That just wouldn't do; today was going to be _fun._

Finally, Toothless snapped. He took one last look at his rider to check that he wasn't stirring - he wasn't - then leapt out of the window. _I'll just wake him like this. _Toothless thought determinedly, rearing up and stretching his legs out. He brought them down on the roof, banging on it hard enough to rattle the entire house. _That ought to get his attention. _Toothless decided, giving the roof one last hit for good measure.

The sleepy mumble of "coming..." from inside the house revealed the success of Toothless's plan. The dragon stayed on the roof as he waited for Hiccup to emerge from the house, listening out for the tell-tale signs of Hiccup's morning routine. It wasn't long later that the Viking emerged, flight suit on and still stumbling slightly from a lack of awareness.

_'About time.' _Toothless complained as Hiccup shivered slightly in the chilly morning air.

_'What do you want then, Mr Bossy?'_ Hiccup reverted to the old nickname, looking at his dragon with equal parts curiosity and irritation. Not Toothless's intended mood for him that morning, but it would have to do.

_'We're going flying!' _he announced proudly, waving his tail in Hiccup's face to demonstrate the point. Hiccup moved to climb on his back and click his prosthetic into place, but Toothless jumped out of his way to stop him. _'No,' _he revealed happily, _'_I'm _controlling the tail today.'_

_'Really getting into the new tail, huh?' _Hiccup noted smugly. Toothless decided to forgive Hiccup's statement, not wanting to ruin the good mood.

_'Let's go!' _Toothless demanded impatiently, getting underneath Hiccup and shoving him onto his back. He took off before Hiccup could even register what was going on properly, eyes narrowed as he shot across the sky.

* * *

_'Where are we going?' _Hiccup asked, squinting into the fog gathering over the ocean. Toothless just slapped him with his ears, getting him to stop talking.

By now the two had been travelling for about two hours, and it had been an hour since Hiccup had seen an island he recognised. He wasn't worried about the destination, exactly, but he _was _curious.

_'We're here!' _Toothless announced randomly. Hiccup frowned; from what he could tell, _here _was the middle of nowhere.

_'Where?'_ Hiccup demanded, peering over Toothless to look at the calm waters below. _'I don't see anything - ah.'_

Out of the water, _something _was emerging. It was just a dark mark in the ocean, but it was large enough to be creating large waves of ripples as it surfaced. _'What _is _it?' _Hiccup asked.

_'My friend!' _Toothless explained cryptically, watching as the creature - probably a dragon, based on its looks and connection to Toothless - completed its ascent.

"Hello Toothless." Hiccup was surprised to note that the dragon - he could see now that it certainly was one; it resembled a bewilderbeast slightly, though was smaller and had more prominent wings and snake-like features - could speak Norse. "Who've you brought?"

_'This is my friend: Hiccup!' _Toothless revealed, smiling at his friend. Five years and he hadn't changed a bit.

"So... who's the dragon?" Hiccup asked, slightly bewildered at the Norse-speaking creature.

_'I told you! He's a friend!' _Toothless said again, giving no more insights.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Hiccup said politely, holding a hand out in a silent request to jump onto the dragon's back. He nodded slightly, bowing his head to let Hiccup climb on.

The rest of the day was filled with the two old friends catching up, and Hiccup getting to know the sea-dragon. Toothless's friend - he claimed to not really care for a name - was a type of dragon that lived only in the sea. Him and Toothless had met a while ago, when the Green Death still commanded most dragons in the area and Toothless still had his original tail.

"Well," Hiccup said, clambering back onto Toothless's back in preparation to leave, "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Toothless's friend spoke calmly, "Any friend of Toothless's is a friend of mine."

Hiccup smiled as they left, waving goodbye to the dragon as he slipped back under the water. _'That was nice,' _he told Toothless happily, _'We should meet your friends more often.'_


	27. Chapter 27

**A/n: The first of TNT's ideas. The scuttleclaws are back, and this time, Hiccup has help.**

* * *

"Why do we have to do this?"

"Duh, _stupid, _it's cos..." Tuffnut stopped to scratch his head, "I don't know. Why _are _we here?"

Astrid sighed. "Because we're helping Hiccup? Do none of you remember that?" The Vikings shook their heads. "He told you five minutes ago!"

"Whatever," Snotlout said dismissively, "What're we supposed to be doing?"

"Helping Hiccup, _duh!" _Tuffnut said, "Don't you _listen?"_

By now, everyone knew there was no point in pointing out the irony to him.

"We're teaching the scuttleclaws," explained Fishlegs, who had actually listened when Hiccup requested their help that morning, and understood Shootout's question. "Those big baby dragons that don't listen to anyone." he elaborated once he realised that nobody knew the species name of the excitable babies. Most Vikings just referred to them as 'the big babies', as per their usual naming prowess.

"That's right," Hiccup agreed, walking in with the younger dragons in tow. It was less a walk than him being shoved, pushed along by the scuttleclaws. Toothless hovered behind him, eyeing the young dragons nervously but not making any move to stop them. "So, any ideas?"

"Yell at them!" Snotlout suggested, striding over to a green and red one about his height. "Sit!" he barked, pointing to the floor. Behind him, Astrid and Fishlegs rolled their eyes; this method had been tried, tested and failed by Hookfang.

The scuttleclaw sat without protest. The other dragon riders watched, open-mouthed, as Snotlout proceeded to give each scuttleclaw the same order. It wasn't a fluke; they all obeyed.

"What." Hiccup said, completely dumb-struck. "How did you..."

"I must just be the best dragon trainer there is," Snotlout said with faked modesty. He leant against one of the seated scuttleclaws as he pretended to examine his nails in studious disinterest. As soon as all his weight was being supported by the young dragon, it shifted out of the way, leaving Snotlout to topple over onto the floor.

"Maybe not the _best..." _Hiccup commented, silently relieved that Snotlout hadn't just gained complete control over the babies. He could imagine just how well _that _would go.

"So, can we go now?" Ruffnut asked suddenly. Without waiting for a response, she walked out, dragging Barf and Belch with her. Tuffnut soon followed, yelling after her with threats to punish her for stealing his dragon.

"But we need to get them to do more than listen to Snotlout..." Hiccup complained weakly, knowing that there was no point in trying to stop his friends from leaving, Vikings and their stubbornness issues be damned.

"Well, I'm going too!" Snotlout announced, waving Hookfang over and moving to walk out. Predictably, Hookfang made no move to follow. Less predictable were the actions of the scuttleclaws, who all circled around Snotlout and started following him. "Stop following me!" he snapped, shooing away the babies with his hands. They didn't budge.

Toothless jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being knocked over by the scuttleclaws, who all jumped straight at Snotlout with excited vigour.

"Should we help him?" Astrid asked, eyes glinting in barely concealed amusement.

"I think he can work it out himself," Hiccup said, grinning. "After all, he _is _the best dragon tamer there is."


	28. Chapter 28

**A/n: TNT's idea again. Well, not _exactly, _but the basic stuff is there.**

* * *

"Have you seen Gothi?" Astrid asked. Hiccup looked at her, slightly concerned.

"No." he replied. "Why? Was someone hurt?"

"No! Nothing like that," Astrid assured him, "It's just that nobody's seen her in a while. Bucket saw her yesterday, but nobody's seen her since then."

"What was she doing?" Hiccup wondered. "Going to get some more herbs?" Astrid nodded. "Well, if she was, she'll be in the forest. I'll go look for her now."

"Thanks," Astrid said gratefully. "Hope you find her soon!"

"Don't worry!" Hiccup laughed, hopping onto Toothless's back, "So long as there isn't a random spread of disease, we should be fine!"

Astrid sighed as Hiccup flew off. _Of course he'd say that. There'll be an outbreak now..._

* * *

_'You know there's going to be some random disease now, right?' _Toothless asked Hiccup as they flew over the forest. _'Because with your luck, and the universe in general...'_

_'Yes, I know.' _Hiccup sighed. _'I only realised once I'd said it. Well, if we can get to Gothi soon enough...'_

_'What do you think it'll be?' _Toothless asked conversationally, _'Perhaps eel-pox. Haven't had _that _one in a while.'_

_'And thank Thor we haven't.' _Hiccup said pointedly. He still remembered the last eel-pox outbreak; it had ended in Toothless getting sick, and himself being knocked unconscious after being slammed into a tree. Not the best day.

Scouring the forest floor for any sign of the healer, Hiccup sighed. _'This isn't working, is it?' _he said. _'Try going a bit lower?'_

Toothless complied, dropping down and swerving between the trees. It gave a better view of the forest floor, but took up too much of Hiccup's concentration from having to concentrate on not crashing for it to be worth it. _'Gonna have to take control, bud...' _Hiccup told Toothless, who nodded and switched the tail function.

_That's better, _Hiccup thought, able to concentrate much better now. _Now, let's find Gothi._

* * *

"Any luck?" Astrid asked hopefully, watching Hiccup drop down in front of her. She was leant against a tree, having nearly fallen asleep waiting for him to return.

"Nope." Hiccup said dully. "I assume the village is being ravaged by disease as we speak?"

"Yep." Astrid confirmed. "Eel-pox."

_'Aha!' _Toothless cried out triumphantly, _'Called it!'_

Hiccup glared at him. _'That isn't a good thing.' _he reminded the night fury in a deadpan tone. "Well, not much we can do now..." he consoled himself. "Do you know where that list of ingredients is, again?"

"I'm sure Fishlegs does..." Astrid didn't answer directly, "I'll go ask him." With a cry of _'Stormfly!', _she called her dragon to her and took off towards the village.

Hiccup watched Astrid retreat. _This is just great... _he thought sarcastically, turning to his own dragon. _'So, what now?'_

* * *

Hiccup wandered around the village, not surprised to find that it was empty. From what Astrid had told him, it seemed that the entire village had caught eel-pox already, in keeping with its highly infectious nature. By now, everyone would be up at the hall, wondering where Hiccup was and probably complaining about the lack of a healer. _The gods hate me... _he decided silently, kicking the floor in protest. All that managed to do was knock him over, leaving him to be caught by Toothless.

Astrid and Fishlegs had set out a while ago with the list of ingredients, and he was awaiting their return so that he could go off to eel island, for what would hopefully _not _turn out as a repeat performance of his last visit to the area.

In the meantime, he had a village to look after.

* * *

"We've got the ingredients!" Astrid yelled, touching down beside Hiccup.

"That's great..." he said distractedly.

"Is everything okay?" Astrid asked, frowning in concern.

"Oh, yeah." Hiccup said, livening up, "Just glad we've nearly got the cure. Snotlout's starting another 'dragon rebellion'."

"Good to see you've been keeping busy, then." Astrid joked. "Twins starting their science again?"

"Yeah. Ruff and or Tuff cream is being made once more..." he shuddered at the thought. "Weird... Well, see you!" he announced, nudging Toothless awake, "We'll be off now."

"Come back sooner than last time!" Astrid yelled after him.

"I'll try!"

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless returned half an hour later, the former holding an eel up triumphantly. "No incidents, no time spent unconscious!" he declared as he landed, handing the eel to a waiting Astrid.

"That's great." she said. "You know what's even better?"

Hiccup turned his head to the side. He _didn't _know what was better. Unless she meant the fact that the cure was finally being made...

"Gothi's back!"

"What?" Hiccup said, incredulous. "Where was she? When did you find her?"

"Arrived just after you left." Astrid reported. "It was Skullcrusher that found her. Apparently, she was looking for herbs then got distracted... or something... I don't really understand what she was trying to say."

"She got side-tracked by her terrible terrors." Fishlegs explained, as the only of Hiccup's friends to understand the healer.

"Well, it's good that she's back," Hiccup said. He leant back against Toothless, closing his eyes. "Now where's that cure?"


	29. Chapter 29

**A/n: A shorter one than usual, but I'm trying to get it up as soon as possible... (And it's TNT's idea (nearly forgot to mention that, sorry!))**

* * *

Hiccup sighed, eyes cast downwards as he searched for the familiar ship of Trader Johan. By now, he couldn't honestly say it would surprise him if the man had managed to get into some dangerous situation - the tale of which he'd surely _love _to spend the next few hours regaling everyone with - and his ship had ended up wrecked.

_'See anything yet?' _Hiccup asked hopefully, trusting Toothless's better vision to be able to spot things he couldn't. He was disappointed slightly when Toothless responded with a quick headshake, but wasn't that shocked. They'd just have to go out a bit further. Trader Johan had been late before, and was sometimes found in the most obscure places, but they always found him in the end.

* * *

When they finally found the errant trader, Hiccup and Toothless began to regret even coming out to look for him in the first place.

"It's a parrot!" The excitable words had sounded innocent enough at first, but it wasn't to last. Only a few seconds after Toothless started to pull the boat away from the rocks, (apparently, a thunderdrum had attacked) the parrot opened its mouth.

"Hello!" The sudden words shocked Hiccup.

"Did it just... speak?" he asked, staring at the bird. Johan nodded, looking extremely impressed.

"Yes!" Johan confirmed. "Can copy anything you say. Great, isn't it?"

"Yeah... great..." Hiccup repeated, unconvinced.

"Great! Great!" the parrot chirped happily.

* * *

"This is definitely _not _great." Astrid deadpanned.

"You're telling me? At least you didn't have to spend the last hour having it repeat everything you say! I've had to resort to using Dragonese constantly - apparently, it can't manage that!" Hiccup half-shouted, looking as though he was about to tear his hair out.

_'Well, thanks for telling me.' _Astrid switched languages, willing to put in the effort of translating everything she said, if only to avoid listening to the beastly creature that Johan had unwittingly unleashed on Berk. She'd only known of its existence for _ten minutes, _and it was already the bane of her own.

_'It's nothing,' _Hiccup waved off Astrid's gratitude. _'I'll be on my way now - need to keep track of the thing before the twins get at it.'_

Oh, Odin. Astrid hadn't even _considered _what havoc the twins would be able to wreak if they got their hands on the infernal creature.

* * *

"Now say... Tuffnut smells!"

"Tuffnut smells! Tuffnut smells!"

"Hey, no fair! Say... Ruffnut's an idiot!"

"Idiot! Idiot!"

Ruffnut laughed, grinning at her small victory while Tuffnut lamented over the parrot's sudden betrayal. Hiccup heard the exchange before he saw it, and soon he was regretting his decision to let the twins out of his sight, even if it _had _only been a second.

"Give the parrot back, guys." Hiccup demanded, lacking authority. The twins looked at him oddly.

"Parrot?" Tuffnut asked after a short pause in which he and his sister shared a look, "What's a parrot?"

"That thing that you have. The bird." Hiccup explained shortly, picking it up when the two were too confused to stop them. "I'll be taking that," he commented, "And I'm making Johan take it with him..."


	30. Chapter 30

**A/n: Idea from Emerald has been Cumberbatched. (In answer to your question, yes. Like Toothless, the movie dragon is a lot different appearance wise though (in my head-canons, anyway.))**

* * *

_'Wake up..' _Toothless muttered impatiently. His rider was taking a stupid amount of time to wake up. Well, it was his usual time, actually, but that didn't make it any less stupid. Toothless wanted to take Hiccup out for another surprise flight, and, petulant as it sounded, he wanted to do it _now._

_''m 'wake...' _Hiccup mumbled into his pillow, torturing Toothless with the knowledge that he was awake, just too lazy to get up and conform to his dragon's wishes.

_'Flying! Now!' _Toothless told Hiccup, grabbing his good leg gently in his mouth, taking care not to have his teeth out as he did. Didn't want him getting his _other _leg taken off. Not on his birthday.

_'Okay...' _Hiccup whined, pushing himself up in a truly elegant move that sent him straight off the edge of the bed and left him sprawling on the floor. _'I'm okay...' _he said weakly as Toothless sent out a few worried coos.

Decidedly more awake now, Hiccup shook himself out before hopping up. _'So! Flight?'_

* * *

"Woo!" Hiccup yelled, arms outstretched to brush the cloud layer as he soared past. Doing so was like dipping his hands in the ocean, only with less resistance and splash-back. "Yeah!"

Toothless gave his own whoop of joy to match Hiccup's, bringing the pair down into a nose-dive and flaring his wings out at the last moment to prevent them taking an early bath. Hiccup gave a contented sigh and leant back further on his friend's back._'So, what now?'_

_'We land.' _Toothless said, spotting the familiar island, now only a few seconds of flying away. As they touched down neatly in a patch of grass, Hiccup grinned.

_'Itchy armpit...' _he said quietly, recognising the view - still as breath-taking as the first time he'd seen it. It was a bittersweet memory, tainted by the dark events that followed. Why had Toothless brought him here? There were plenty of other islands known only to the two of them -

"Hey Hiccup!"

Ah, yes. Itchy armpit wasn't known only to the two of them. "Hello Astrid," he greeted warmly, turning round to face her.

Astrid was walking out of some nearby bushes, a few twigs and leaves that had worked their way into her hair fluttering about in the breeze as she walked. She was carrying a basket, but Stormfly was nowhere to be found.

Neither, Hiccup realised suddenly as he turned back around, was Toothless.

"Did our dragons just abandon us here?" Hiccup asked, bemused. Astrid nodded, grinning mischievously. _She's been in on the plot the whole time!_ Hiccup thought, pouting slightly as he realised his betrayal. At Hiccup's expression of fake hurt, Astrid laughed. "It's not funny!" Hiccup frowned.

"You have to admit, it's a _bit _funny." Astrid said, grinning even wider at Hiccup's frown. "Besides, I brought food!" she revealed, holding her basket out enticingly.

"Suppose its good the dragons didn't stay then," Hiccup commented. "Otherwise, all that'd be gone in seconds!"

Astrid smiled, sitting down on the grass and setting the basket beside her. "Let's have lunch," she suggested. "You probably slept in and missed breakfast."

"You know me too well..."

* * *

Several hours and lots of food later, Hiccup and Astrid were ready to head back to Berk. Only one problem: their dragons weren't.

Hiccup sighed in exasperation, looking at the two dragons. When he'd found them, not too far away and giving their riders amused looks from their position hidden in the bushes, he'd told them he'd like to go home. Toothless had laughed.

_'Fine.' _Hiccup said, smirking as he formed a plan. _'I'll just fly home myself.'_

_'You can't.' _Toothless said, not quite sure whether to be confused or amused. _'You're not a dragon.'_

_'Watch me.' _Hiccup said cockily, walking over to the nearest cliff edge, making sure that Toothless was in clear view.

Both dragons - and Astrid - groaned in realisation of what he was about to do.

Hiccup turned and gave the trio a sarcastic salute before he stepped straight off the edge and started plummeting towards the ground.

_'No fair!' _Toothless shouted after him, jumping off the edge to save his rider without a sign of being begrudging.

_'Worked, didn't it?' _Hiccup pointed out fairly. _'Now come on, let's go home!'_

* * *

**(Go Hiccup, it's yo birthday. We gon' party like it's yo birthday)**


	31. Chapter 31

**A/n: A really short one - TNT's idea. I'm watching HTTYD2 again today though, so hopefully more inspiration will come of it! (Sorry I didn't do the parrot thing properly, btw; I'll do it again after trystrike's idea.)**

* * *

"I'm bored." Ruffnut complained, dangling off Barf and letting her arms dangle in the water.

"We just spent an hour doing tricks!" Hiccup yelled, staring at the twins. _I thought they had a longer attention span than _three seconds. _Apparently not..._

"Yeah, and now we're bored!" Tuffnut yelled back. "Aren't we, sis? Ruffnut?"

Ruffnut wasn't on Barf anymore. She couldn't have fallen though; her dragon would always dip down to catch her, no matter how annoying she or her brother had been. And they hadn't even been that annoying so far.

"Scauldy!" Tuffnut yelled, looking down into the water. Hiccup dangled over the edge of Toothless to find that, sure enough, the scauldron that they had once saved from a group of changewings was just under them in the water. And so was Ruffnut, grabbing onto the tidal class dragon's neck as it swam by.

Barf's eyes narrowed as he watched Ruffnut under the water. He jerked suddenly, sending both himself - Belch included - and Tuffnut into the sea. The other dragon riders watched on in confusion as the zippleback yanked RRuffnut back onto her rightful head and left the water.

"Hey!" she complained, glaring at the two heads, "I was having fun!" Below her, the scauldron grumbled his own agreement.

"Ha!" Hiccup laughed, "They're jealous!"

"What makes you think that?" Snotlout said doubtfully, squinting at the twins and their dragon.

"I don't know." Astrid responded sarcastically, "Maybe the whole _fighting over them thing?"_

"Huh, yeah..." Snotlout said in realisation. Astrid just face-palmed in irritation.

"Err, little help?" Ruffnut called, looking nervously between the two dragons. They were eyeing each other up now, clearly wanting to fight.

"Cool!" Tuffnut said, "A dragon fight!"

"Not cool," Hiccup corrected, jumping off Toothless and onto the scauldron's back, "Deadly. I'll calm everyone down, you two get on Toothless."

The twins complied with minimal grumbling, then Hiccup soothed the two dragons with calm words in Dragonese.

"Okay," he eventually called out to them, "You can get back on now."

"Thanks Hiccup!" Ruffnut said gratefully, landing neatly back on Barf. "Hey," she said to Scauldy as the riders prepared to move out, "I'll come see you soon!"


	32. Chapter 32

**A/n: Here's dragon combat. Idea by trystrike.**

* * *

"So: idea." said Snotlout. Hiccup sighed internally, mentally steeling himself for what was about to follow. "Dragon wrestling."

"What?" Hiccup frowned. When Snotlout had randomly approached and told him he had a great idea that simply had to be shared, Hiccup had assumed it would be some stupid, dangerous idea; the type that generally ended in someone getting injured, or trapped on Outcast Island with no means of escape: a whole manner of ridiculous situations could arise. Not that this didn't have the potential for disaster...

"Hey!" Snotlout complained, "You didn't let me finish!" The interruption didn't much faze him though, as he instantly continued: "So, dragons love fighting each other, right? What if we made a sport out of it?"

"Why?" Hiccup asked, baffled. "They don't - dragons don't do that - why would we... what?" It was ridiculous - encouraging violence, pitting dragons against each other? What if one of them got injured?

Snotlout laughed. "It's such a good idea, you're completely speechless! I'll take that as a yes, then. Cool! The first match is tonight!" he said, not allowing Hiccup a word in edgeways. As soon as he'd finished, he rushed off, leaving a gobsmacked Hiccup to gape uselessly in confusion.

* * *

The first match, as it turned out, was Toothless against Stormfly. Hiccup was a bit surprised that Toothless had agreed to the idea, but apparently the dragon really enjoyed play fighting.

"Huh..." Hiccup said quietly, watching from his place by the side of the ring as the two dragons circled each other slowly. "What do you know..."

_'Ready to go down?' _Stormfly challenged, friendly smirk the only indication that the fight wasn't a real one.

_'Huh. Unlikely.' _Toothless scoffed. Hiccup frowned; he didn't want his friend to lose because he underestimated his opponent. Especially not since it was Toothless, of all dragons, who should know not to judge on appearances. He always _had _been a tad overconfident.

"Go Stormfly!" Astrid cheered over on the other side of the ring. "Take him down!"

_'That's what I'm doing.' _Stormfly assured. Then she jumped. Toothless was taken by surprise slightly, only just managing to rear back enough to avoid the sudden assault.

Next, Stormfly lunged forwards, pushing Toothless onto his back. Snotlout grinned at the sudden development, counting down the time Toothless had to get the nadder off himself, as per the rules.

_'What was that about unlikely?' _she asked casually as Toothless squirmed beneath her. Across the ring, Hiccup noticed Astrid smirking at him. Like dragon, like rider, it seemed.

_'I said...' _Toothless started, rearing his legs to send Stormfly back with a powerful shove, _'It was un...likely!'_

Toothless succeeded in getting the nadder off him, quickly turning the tables as he landed on top of her. Snotlout began counting down again as Stormfly wriggled beneath Toothless's grasp. She managed to break free just as Toothless had, though the resulting shove didn't end with Toothless on his back again. The dragons returned to circling each other, tails swishing as they thought out their next attacks.

The two collided in the middle of the circle they were fighting in, each dragon trying to push the dragon over.

Eventually, the night fury's power proved too much for her, and the short match came to an end when Stormfly couldn't escape from Toothless in time. The Vikings and dragons observing the event exploded into excitable cheering and clapping, drowning out the quieter compliments and commiserations both riders were giving their dragons.

_'You showed him you were stronger than he thought,' _Astrid pointed out to her still upset dragon. _'He won't be challenging you again in a hurry!' _Stormfly nodded in realisation, her confident smirk returning.

_'I was always going to win,' _Toothless told Hiccup with false bravado, _'I'm the _alpha.'

_'Whatever you say, bud...' _Hiccup remained unconvinced. "Good match!" he called over to Astrid.

"So: was that a good idea, or was it a good idea?" Snotlout came over and asked.

"It _was _good," Hiccup admitted. "So long as both dragons want to have a go, and they keep it clean, there should be no problems with making it a regular thing."

"Yeah!" Snotlout shouted. "Dragon Combat is a _thing!"_

"Dragon Combat?" Hiccup asked with a slight chuckle, "I thought it was Dragon Wrestling?"

"Nah, this is much cooler." Snotlout said, walking over to share the good news with the twins.


	33. Chapter 33

**A/n: A continuation of the parrot thing a few chapters back. Still TNT's idea.**

* * *

"So, who's this?" Johan wondered aloud. At Hiccup's request, he had taken his parrot back. Now, what had been affectionately dubbed 'the infernal creature' by the residents of Berk was no longer allowed out of Johan's sight.

"Gruff," Valka said, introducing the dragon.

"It's blind?" he said curiously, noticing the clouded eyes. "How does it fly?"

The question wasn't intended to be an offence, but Gruff took it as one, turning red out of anger. "So, is he a bit useless when it comes to flying and stuff?" he continued, digging himself even deeper into his accidental hole.

"Useless! Useless!" the parrot chirped helpfully. It was only then that Johan realised his mistake.

"Um... Sorry about that," he told the dragon, not sure whether to be sheepish or embarrassed to be talking to a dragon like that. Though the Berkians had started training dragons five years ago, he hadn't spent enough time on the island to get used to their constant presence. "He doesn't know what he's saying..."

Gruff didn't respond, only huffed and turned away pointedly. Valka looked at the apologetic trader disapprovingly, then moved onto a different dragon after whispering a few words to Gruff in a language Johan didn't recognise. She motioned for him to follow, and he complied, muttering another weak apology to the blind dragon as he moved along.

* * *

"This is Cloudjumper."

"Oh. Okay. Uhh... what's wrong with this one?"

"Nothing!" Valka snapped. "Not every dragon has a disability!" she explained irritably, still not forgiving Johan for his mistake with Gruff. The two had been wandering around for a while now, and they'd seen a few of the dragons that Valka had rescued. To Johan's credit, it had appeared that each one had some sort of disability, each brought about by one of Drago's traps, so the assumption wasn't at all outlandish.

"Useless! Useless!" the parrot repeated, as though it knew exactly what Valka was so annoyed about. Johan chuckled nervously as Valka sighed. Cloudjumper tilted his head in confusion, and Valka spoke again in that strange language that Johan couldn't translate.

"What language is that?" he asked in a tactful change of the subject, "I don't even recognise it."

"Really?" Valka's irritation turned to amused surprise, "You should do. Cloudjumper," she said, quickly tuning to her dragon, who nodded, and made a collection of growls and roars.

"Oh... Oh!" Johan said, realising what language it was. He really _should _have recognised it, then, for all the times he'd encountered dragons on his travels. "You can speak _dragon?"_

"Dragon_ese," _Valka corrected. "Yes. Hiccup taught me." she revealed, pride for her son evident in her words.

"Really?" Johan was impressed. He knew Hiccup had a way with the dragons that no other Berk resident had managed to achieve, but to work out their _language? _It was truly an impressive feat, especially since he couldn't have started working on it that long ago; he hadn't even mentioned anything of the sort the last time Johan came to Berk, and that was only a few months ago.

Then again, a lot could happen in a month, especially on Berk.

"So, who else is there?" Johan asked. He hadn't seen that many of Berk's new residents so far, and his curiosity was officially peaked. There didn't seem to be any more dragons hanging around the village than usual, though, and he'd only seen two so far in the forest. The rest had been in a small clearing near some cliffs, but that didn't seem big enough for the hundreds of dragons that Hiccup had described. Perhaps they had another home...

"Drop that parrot off at your boat, and we can go see the scuttleclaws." Valka said, mouth twitching into a barely concealed mischievous smile.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/n: A quick one this time about the babies again. Quick note: I'm doing one of my own ideas next, so any requests may take a little longer than usual. I'm still doing them though! (This is TNT's idea.)**

* * *

_'What're we doing today?' _Sleekscales asked.

_'You're playing with the scuttleclaws,'_ Stormfly reminded her, eliciting a groan from her child. _'They're your age!'_ she pointed out, _'You'll get along just fine.'_

The other children shared a few cautious looks. Being of the same age by no means meant that they were of the same _size. _Or the same mentality: scuttleclaw babies were well known for being absent-minded yet energetic.

_'Do we have to?'_ Sleekscales whined. The glare she received answered her question, and she walked off with the rest of her friends to find the other children.

* * *

_'Hi!' _one of the scuttleclaws - Spark, Sleekscales seemed to recall as a name - shouted. The small group of dragons had found a few scuttleclaws without much effort, and had introduced themselves already. _'I'm Spark!'_

_'Hi Spark!' _Ugg and Lee said in unison. _'Wanna play?' _they offered.

_'Yeah! Play catch!' _Spark said enthusiastically. He leapt forwards then, nearly crushing Fireworm when he didn't move out of the way in time. The other dragons watched, wide-eyed in shock, as the monstrous nightmare struggled underneath the larger dragon.

_'Get off me!' _he complained loudly, setting himself on fire in protest.

_'That's how you play!' _Spark explained, not apologetic in the least. Eventually, though, he did climb off Fireworm's back, leaving the dragon gasping for breath on the floor. _'Your turn!'_

The dragons stared at Spark for a second, none of them moving. Laze was the first to make a move for once, wings flapping madly as he hefted himself slowly over to the scuttleclaw and landed on top of him with a thud. Despite the heavy weight suddenly on him, Spark enjoyed the game, kicking Laze away happily.

_'Well, this is great...' _Sleekscales lied, _'But is there another game we can play?'_

_'Tig! Tig!' _one of the other scuttleclaws, red except for some green markings on her head, suggested brightly.

* * *

Tig turned out a lot less painful for the younger dragons. Unfortunately, that was because it was a lot _more _painful for the residents of Berk. It appeared that all scuttleclaw games consisted of the same main elements: run into things and man-handle them. The only difference was _what _was being man-handled.

Today, the first Viking the scuttleclaws found was Hiccup. He was with Toothless, as usual, but even the night fury's alpha status was useless against the babies.

_'This is actually pretty fun...' _Fireworm decided hesitantly, watching Spark nuzzle against Hiccup hard enough to send the poor Viking sprawling on the floor, where the rest of the scuttleclaws started biting him affectionately. _'When we aren't the targets...'_

_'Yeah.' _Laze agreed with a yawn. _'Just don't make me do it too...' _


	35. Chapter 35

**A/n: This is one of those clichéd, overdone plots. As it turns out, the reason it's overdone is because it's so fun to write!  
On another note, I've decided to try to update this once a day from now on, so I can work on my other fanfic. I'll probably be doing one of my own ideas one day, then a suggestion the next, unless I run out of either.**

* * *

When Toothless woke up that morning, he didn't immediately notice that there was something wrong. In fact, it wasn't until he sat up to see _himself _curled up in the corner of the room that he realised that something was different.

For starters, he was on Hiccup's bed. Nobody went on Hiccup's bed except Hiccup, and perhaps himself if he felt like it, but never when Hiccup himself wasn't present. And he wasn't. Actually, Hiccup was nowhere to be found throughout the entire room.

_'Hiccup?' _Toothless asked tentatively, looking around for signs of the Viking. Surely he'd know why Toothless could suddenly see himself, as though he was having some strange out-of-body experience.

Unfortunately, that wasn't to be.

_'Toothless?' _Toothless frowned as his name was called out. It must've been Hiccup who said it, but for a moment he could've sworn the sound was coming from the other night fury in the -

_'Wait...' _Toothless looked down, finding Hiccup's body. _'What.'_

_'What're you on about, bud?' _Hiccup asked, stretching out with his eyes still closed. He opened them as he sat up, then stared at Toothless. _'What.'_

_'Was hoping you could answer that one...' _Toothless muttered, trying to get out of bed but failing miserably when he realised that he actually had no idea how to control the strange limbs that humans had. _'How do you do this?' _he wondered, flailing around a bit until he managed to worm his way out of the bed. Unfortunately, he had no way to stop himself when he rolled off the edge, so he landed painfully on the ground next to Hiccup.

The human-turned-dragon wasn't faring much better. After managing to unsteadily stand up, he was now in full-blown panic mode as he tried to work out what had happened, and how to fix it. _'Do you know any dragons with mind-swapping abilities?' _he asked, flexing his new wings to test them.

_'Not that I know of. We should ask Cloudjumper.' _he suggested, rolling his arm around and inspecting it. He placed it on the floor and used it to push himself up, gripping the side of the bed as he stood unsteadily.

_'How are we going to do that?' _Hiccup wondered, _'We can't even _stand up _right now, and I don't want people working out about this... Gods, you can't even speak Norse!'_

_'So? You go round speaking Dragonese all the time. No one will suspect a thing!'_

If not for the fact that Hiccup was well aware of Berk's general ignorance of most things, and the residents' amazing ability to miss any and all details, no matter how obvious - he'd hidden a _dragon _in the woods for weeks, and he had never bothered to hide any of his sketches or designs, for Thor's sake! - he would've protested. As it was, he simply muttered, _'Fine, but we're staying away from Astrid.', _then helped Toothless walk out of the house.

* * *

"Have you noticed anything... _odd _about Hiccup lately?"

"No. Why?" Snotlout responded, looking over at his cousin from his place at the table. Hiccup was eating a fish - raw, for some reason - while Toothless tried desperately to stop him.

"You're sure?" Fishlegs checked. He was watching the same scene, and was fairly certain that raw fish wasn't the chief's breakfast food of choice.

"Yeah," Snotlout waved his mug around dismissively, "He's fine."

Fishlegs frowned. If Snotlout insisted, he supposed there wasn't much more he could do - another of Hiccup's new behaviours was his sudden decision to speak solely in Dragonese, very fast Dragonese, so he couldn't keep up in translating. He shrugged slightly before returning to his breakfast, making a quick mental note to ask Astrid about it at the earliest convenience.

* * *

_'Stop that!' _Hiccup snapped, reaching a paw up to bat the fish out of Toothless's hands, _'Humans can't eat raw fish!'_

_'But it tastes terrible otherwise!' _Toothless whined in response. _'You humans cook the taste out of everything...'_

Hiccup rolled his eyes, trying again to grab the fish. This time he succeeded in getting a grasp on it, managing to bring it down to the ground. 'I'm _eating raw fish,' _he pointed out, swallowing the entire thing whole to prove the point, _'So that we won't be suspicious. _Please _eat like a normal Viking?' _he begged.

Toothless laughed, seeing for the first time the begging face that he so often pulled. _Damn, I'm good. 'Okay, I'll eat it cooked...' _he grumbled, taking something pre-cooked from the table and eating it in moody retaliation.

The two ate in silence for a while, until Toothless gave a sudden groan of frustration. _'I give up!' _he snapped, _'Let's just go...' _he continued, dropping the food and pushing himself up from the table with relative ease. Though he'd only had to start using his arms an hour ago, he was quickly getting used to having them. It was the legs that were causing him problems, especially since there was actually only one of them.

Typically, he managed to stand halfway up before he toppled over, landing straight on Hiccup's waiting back. _'Stupid leg.' _he cursed, using mostly his arms to scramble up onto Hiccup's back and grab onto the saddle. Hiccup rose properly, walking out of the room on only slightly unsteady legs.

* * *

_'Come on! We should've been at the nest ages ago!'_

Hiccup sighed. It seemed that Toothless was just full of complaints today. Not that anyone could really blame him; his mind had been swapped from being in the body of the fastest dragon on Berk to being in the body of a scrawny, one-legged Viking. _'That's because I can't fly.' _he explained patiently, silently cursing his own lack of ability.

_'Well, give it a try then!' _Toothless suggested. It was easy enough for _him _to say, Hiccup mused, what with him only having to climb up onto Hiccup's back and let the boy-turned-dragon deal with all the getting used to new limbs. On the other hand, flying _would _get them there faster, and Hiccup's lack of complaint wasn't coming from a lack of impatience...

_'Okay.' _he agreed, already regretting the decision, _'I'll _try.'

'Try' was certainly the operative word there. Hiccup unfurled his wings for the first time, marvelling at just how easy it was to move them, given that he'd never had appendages anything like them in the past. _How to go about this... _he wondered, deciding that throwing himself into it with a running start was as good a first try as any.

The first attempt ended in Hiccup slamming his head into a tree, moving at high enough speeds to buck Toothless off his back and into a nearby tree. _Apparently not... _he thought, dazed, as he tried to find Toothless. _'Hey, bud?' _he called out.

_'Never do that again...' _Toothless groaned from his position on top of a bush. _'Please...'_

Hiccup agreed readily, and Toothless spent a few minutes trying to describe to him exactly what he usually did when he was flying. It wasn't as easy as he first thought; by now, almost everything he did in the air was based purely off instinct, in the same way walking was for Hiccup. Eventually though, they managed to come to an understanding, and Hiccup took his first few unsteady wing-beats into the air.

* * *

They never did make it to Cloudjumper.

Once Hiccup got the hang of flying, he refused to land. Toothless had no qualms with this, and the two were content to spend the entire day hovering over Berk and the surrounding ocean, practicing the occasional trick and switching the tailfin between being under Toothless's control and being automatic intermittently. The new arrangement suited the two well, and they were both able to appreciate their flights from another perspective.

By the time Hiccup and Toothless retired for the night, having missed both dinner and tea, they were both tired enough to simply crawl into bed without even bothering to take off their flying gear.

* * *

"Good morning, bud..." Hiccup mumbled sleepily, stretching himself out to get rid of the stiffness in his muscles. He remembered doing a lot of flying yesterday, so it was only natural that -

"Toothless?" Hiccup said, sitting up in bed and suddenly a lot more alert for remembering what exactly had transpired the day before. "You there?"

Of course, he could _see _the black lump of scales that was his night fury friend, but he could never be too sure - just yesterday, the night fury had been _him._

_'Hiccup?' _Toothless mumbled. Hiccup smiled in the realisation that they had both been returned to their original bodies, getting a few laughs out of Toothless's startled reaction to realising the same thing. _'How did we...'_

_'I don't know,' _Hiccup admitted, _'But I'm not going to question it.' _Internally, he decided that a certain trickster god may have been at work, though he wasn't going to mention that - perhaps complaining about it would just make it happen again. _'Let's just be glad it's over...'_

* * *

Astrid's irritated expression when Hiccup opened the door that moment reminded him that it wasn't _quite _over yet.

"Why did you ignore me yesterday?"

"Well, it's a funny story..."


	36. Chapter 36

**A/n: This is Nathalie Shiffer's idea. (Sorry it took so long to do!)**

* * *

It was a typical day on Berk. The terrible terrors were squawking at anyone who dared cross their path, dragons flew lazily overhead, and Astrid and Toothless could be heard throughout the village, arguing loudly in Dragonese.

Of course, the last point wasn't exactly typical in everyday Berk life. It was still typical enough for the residents of Berk to roll their eyes - whether dragon or Viking - and know the same thing.

_Hiccup has a day off again._

* * *

_'Can't you just_ both_ spend time with me?'_ Hiccup suggested tiredly. He had yet to get out of bed, for Thor's sake, and he already had a shouting match starting up on either side of him. At least the two had the decency to keep it to Dragonese this time - it was pretty embarrassing to have all the villagers repeating parts of the arguments to you for days after.

_'No!'_ Astrid and Toothless snapped. It seemed about the only thing they _could_ agree on: Hiccup could only spend time with one of them. It was his only full day off for what was going to be a while, so neither were happy to let the other take him.

_'You had him _last time_!'_ Toothless whined. He was lying, and it was a point that he made every time this argument rolled around, but Astrid still felt the need to provide a counter argument.

_'_You _spend more time with him in general!'_

Hiccup sighed. They had reached _that_ point. It was truly amazing, or at least he thought it was, that they could argue so much, then become friendly again the moment the conflict had been resolved. He supposed he was lucky in that respect; your best friend and your girlfriend not getting on held potential to cause so many problems, he didn't even want to think about it.

_'I'm going to get up now,'_ Hiccup said, keeping his tone even and his voice lowered to a normal voice. With the volume of their screams, he went completely unnoticed. Hiccup pushed off the bed, having to clamber over the entire thing to get past his two arguing friends.

_'I'm going out now,' _he revealed evenly, grabbing his flying gear from the end of the bed as he went.

He was already down the stairs and at the door by the time he heard Astrid's _'- right, Hiccup? Hiccup?'_

* * *

"What was that for?" Astrid exploded, her frustrations at Toothless being momentarily directed at Hiccup.

"I'm sick of you arguing," he laughed, unable to take Astrid seriously with her ridiculous righteous rage. "And it's _my _day off. I'm going to the nest.

_'_My _day!' _Toothless shouted, springing out of the house to land on Astrid's back. _'I want Hiccup!'_

"Hiccup wants _peace..._" Hiccup sighed, sitting on the steps leading up to his house and resigning himself to a day spent trying and failing to split up arguments.

He needn't have bothered. While Toothless and Astrid continued their argument in the form of a wrestling match, Cloudjumper and Valka swooped down to pick Hiccup up.

"He's my son!" Valka shouted down to the two, who had stopped fighting when they noticed Hiccup's disappearance. "I need to spend time with him every once in a while, too!"

Toothless growled as Valka sped off, laughing as she kidnapped _his _Viking. _I'll show you... _he decided, springing up to charge after them.

As he left, Astrid's yell of _'Stormfly!' _echoed around the village.

* * *

"Thanks..." Hiccup said gratefully, taking Valka's staff in one hand to lift himself up onto Cloudjumper's back.

"No problem!" Valka laughed. "So, where now? The nest?"

Hiccup nodded. Finally, things were looking up for him; he was going to get to spend the day with the dragons, after all. He had yet to get properly acquainted with all the dragons at the nest yet, something he wished to spend the day rectifying.

Cloudjumper got them to the nest in seconds. _'Thanks,' _Hiccup said again as he stood on the edge of Cloudjumper's wing.

"We'll get them off your trail!" Valka shouted down to him as he leapt off, pulling out his wings to glide into the mouth of the caves.

* * *

Toothless caught up with Cloudjumper a minute later. _'Where's Hiccup?' _he demanded, looking around as if he'd be hiding under one of the other dragon's wings.

_'Where is he?' _Astrid asked the same question as she arrived, Stormfly's panting drowning out her words.

"He's at the nest!" Valka revealed. "And he's staying there all day, to greet the new dragons." She looked over to Astrid, who had leant down in preparation to tell Stormfly something, "I suggest you go back to the village and make sure no one's doing anything stupid." she told her.

Muttering something about Snotlout and the twins, Astrid sighed and allowed Stormfly to start taking her back to Berk.

"And you should be going to the nest," Valka told Toothless with a wink, "You need to meet the new dragons too."

Toothless gave Valka a gummy smile, nodding to Cloudjumper slightly in thanks before shooting off back to the nest.


	37. Chapter 37

**A/n: Another of mine. In answer to bluerose921: (though Emerald has been Cumberbatched has already answered it (nice to see conversations within reviews!)) Hiccup _can _speak Dragonese, though in the books he's the only one that can, as it's seen as a bad thing (as are all things even remotely intellectual, actually).**

* * *

_'__Can we, Hiccup? Please?'_

_'No!' _Hiccup snapped, thoroughly sick of Toothless's whining. _'What's your obsession with this grass, anyway?'_

_'It smells nice! Really nice!' _Toothless revealed, bouncing around, _'Come on!' _he pleaded, giving Hiccup his cutest possible look, head cocked slightly to the side and eyes wide.

_'Ugh... fine,' _Hiccup relented, _'We can go. Only for a bit; I still have things to do today!'_

* * *

Toothless let out a contented sigh, flopping down onto the grass.

_'Hey!' _Hiccup protested, having been flung off Toothless's back and into the grass when the night fury flopped down with such enthusiasm. _'Watch the one-legged Vikings!'_

Toothless didn't respond, simply letting out a hum of happiness as he rolled around.

_'Hmm...' _Hiccup hummed thoughtfully, _'Wonder if this works on _all _dragons?' _Of course, he knew from experience that it worked on gronckles, so the effect was likely to be widespread throughout several species, but there was sure to be an exception - typhoomerangs and eels had shown him that much.

_'I'm off to the nest.' _he said lightly, _'See you in a bit.'_

Toothless let out another contented sigh.

* * *

_'Okay guys,' _Hiccup said. _'Now, if you'd form an orderly queue and _of course _nobody listens.' _he muttered sarcastically, holding his hands out in half-hearted attempt to stop the stampeding dragons.

_'Dragon grass!' _Cloudjumper, not part of the growing dog-pile but still displaying clear excitement, said, _'I've been looking all over for this! How'd you find it?'_

_'Less found, more crashed into.' _Hiccup admitted. _'It was back when we were just getting used to the tailfin, and we crashed here. Turns out, dragons really like it...'_

_'We do.' _Cloudjumper affirmed. _'Thanks for showing us.'_

_'Yeah. Well, really, it was kinda part of an experiment...' _Hiccup told the four-winged dragon. _'I wanted to see if any types of dragon aren't affected by the grass. Though it looks like there aren't any...' _he noted, nodding to the heap of dragons, all rolling around happily. _'Do you know any?'_

_'I don't know... the bewilderbeast, perhaps? They didn't seem to be affected by anything.' _Cloudjumper theorised.

Hiccup nodded thoughtfully. It made sense; it was a shame there wasn't a bewilderbeast handy to ask about it. Though, there _was_ someone on Berk who knew a lot about dragons.

Hiccup thanked Cloudjumper for his time, letting him get back to enjoying the grass as he went off in search of Valka.

* * *

"Dragon grass? You've found a patch here?" Valka asked. She had managed to expertly avoid Hiccup's original question in the interests of abating her own curiosity. "Have you told the nest yet? They'll be so excited."

"Yeah," Hiccup said impatiently, "But about the question, did -"

"The bewilderbeast? Well, he never went to the patches of it when we found them. Either he wasn't effected, or he wanted the others to have it before him. He was the alpha; he put the needs of the nest above his own."

Hiccup nodded. "Makes sense. Well, I'm sure we'll find one eventually, like with the eels."

Valka smiled. "Typhoomerangs? Yes, they like eels, but other dragons sure don't like them eating them!"

Hiccup grinned, leading Valka in the direction of the grass as she explained how other dragons tended to avoid the typhoomerangs come feeding time.


	38. Chapter 38

**A/n: I've got a lot of great suggestions lately, so I'm doing another of those next! This one is from trystrike - thanks for the idea! (In response to TNT: I'm sorry for not responding sooner; if it's a guest review I can't just PM you, so I have to put it in the chapter. I plan on using all the ideas - they're really good, especially the dragons-in-our-universe one - starting in the next chapter.)**

* * *

_'We need to move the grass closer to the nest. And can we get the caves expanded? We barely fit as it is, and we...'_

Toothless sighed quietly, trying not to alert anyone to the fact that he was practically drifting off to sleep after just ten minutes of listening to the same bunch of complaints over and over again, worded only slightly differently each time. He was sure to be stuck in the same place for at least an hour.

He spared a quick glance to Cloudjumper, trying to gage his expression to tell whether the older dragon would be willing to bet on how many different complaints would be filed today. Toothless had a good feeling that there would only actually be four, and he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to propose the bet to the dragon across from him.

_'Yes,' _Toothless said, trying to sound as official as possible. _'I'll start working on it immediately.'_

That was, of course, a complete lie. Most ideas that came from dragons were either impractical or impossible, with a few just plain stupid ones thrown in for good luck. Toothless knew from experience that it was best to kindly ignore the less well thought out ideas - he didn't want a repeat performance of the fire-prof sheep incident.

The monstrous nightmare stood up then and left, having finished speaking just in time for Toothless's polite dismissal of everything he'd just said.

_'Next.' _Toothless said dully, not even trying to sound enthusiastic. And why should he? He could've been spending the day with Hiccup, practising their newest stupid stunt, rather than sat in a small clearing in a not-so-small forest, listening to dragons drone on about the same non-existent problems.

A nadder replaced the nightmare, and it was time for the endless cycle to repeat itself.

Just as the mind-numbing speech commenced, Toothless felt an itch starting to develop behind his ear. Deciding that moving to scratch it would look entirely undignified, Toothless planned to ignore it. He planned, but it didn't turn out that way.

The itch continued to grow, no longer a slight niggling feeling in his head but now truly distracting, keeping Toothless from his hard work looking like he was listening.

Cloudjumper caught Toothless's absent gaze, reminding him with a glare that he had to at least appear to be contributing. Toothless huffed quietly; he was the alpha - why weren't people getting things for him?

_'And we need a bigger nest. It's really cramped: not as much room as the sanctuary.'_

Toothless resisted the urge to make a witty comment about how the nest here had been bigger because they'd had a _massive _dragon willing to make he whole thing for them. A dragon dwarfed in comparison... well, what chance did he have?

Cloudjumper was glaring at him again. He didn't know why; he was doing a marvellous job of pretending his face wasn't itchy as Hel. He just wanted to - ah, the nadder.

_'Great. I'm right on it...' _Toothless lied again. As soon as the other dragon walked off, he collapsed dramatically to the floor and started to finally scratch the itch that'd been bothering him.


	39. Chapter 39

**A/n: And here's the first of TNT's suggestions! (I changed it slightly, so a few more people end up over here, but Hookfang's one of them!)**

* * *

"Hey, Hiccup!" Snotlout called out, running over to the chief, "Have you seen Hookfang?"

"No..." Hiccup frowned. "When did you last see him?"

"Yesterday!" Snotlout said, stopping his jog in favour of pacing around. "I went to sleep: he was there, I woke up: he was gone!"

"Isn't that normal?" Hiccup asked sceptically. "He likes his morning flights, and he isn't the most patient."

"Yeah! That's what I thought, but he didn't come back in time for lunch! He's _always _back by then, and he wasn't today!"

"Okay, okay..." Hiccup soothed, "I'll go get Skullcrusher, see if he can't find him."

"Thanks." Snotlout said earnestly. "Not that I'm worried or anything!" he continued, remembering his usual arrogant Viking bravado now that the panic had been abated. "Hookfang's so awesome, he's probably too busy fighting off his fans back at the cave to come over here!"

"Yeah," Hiccup laughed slightly. He turned to Toothless. "Come on bud. Let's go find Skullcrusher."

* * *

_'It _what_?'_

_'It jut disappears! Honest!' _Skullcrusher insisted, _'Right there!'_

_'Here?' _Hiccup checked, prodding in the air. _'You're certain?'_

_'Yeah,' _Skullcrusher nodded. _'It doesn't go down from here; I've checked.'_

_'He's right,' _Toothless said, looking down, _'I can't smell a thing, and Hookfang takes after his rider when it comes to views on bathing!'_

_'How odd...' _Hiccup murmured. _'Well, we have to go back and tell -'_

_'Hiccup!' _Skullcrusher shouted, nearly stopping flying out of shock as he realised that Hiccup and Toothless had disappeared too, right in front of his eyes. He'd literally blinked and missed it; all that was left was a slight ripple in the air where the two had once hovered.

_'Hiccup!'_

* * *

"Hey, Skullcrusher," Fishlegs greeted pleasantly, smiling at the tracker dragon as he landed in front of him, "Looking for Eret?"

_'Hiccup and Toothless... gone... I just...' _Skullcrusher panted, slumped against the floor now as he shook his head in utter disbelief.

"What?" Fishlegs exclaimed, waving his arms around in a vague gesture meant to calm the dragon, "Hiccup's _what?"_

_'Missing! Like Hookfang!'_

"Hookfang?" Fishlegs echoed.

"Hookfang? You know where he is?" Snotlout demanded. Fishlegs jumped at his friend's sudden appearance by his side.

"No..." he said, slightly confused now, "This is the first I've heard of any of this. What's going on?"

And so Snotlout dived into an explanation, with the help of multiple flailing gestures and frantic half-sentences in Dragonese , the events that led to Hookfang's, then Hiccup and Toothless's, disappearances.

* * *

_'- Snotlout that we couldn't find Hookfang. Wait... what?'_

Hiccup's thought process came to a jarring halt as he realised that Skullcrusher was no longer there. _Well, he isn't _here, _wherever 'here' is... _he amended, looking down to notice that there was a sudden lack of sea below them. Instead, it had been replaced by a collection of strange, towering structures, all that had apparently been erected in seconds. Unless, of course, it was him and Toothless that had suddenly, inexplicably moved.

"Where are we?" he wondered, running a hand through his hair in absent thought.

_'I don't know,' _Toothless admitted slowly, eyes scanning the land below with equal parts confusion and distrust.

"Do you think Hookfang's here?" Hiccup asked, squinting as he moved his head from side to side slightly to look for the monstrous nightmare.

_'I don't know. Maybe -' _Toothless stopped talking when he noticed the familiar stream of fire jetting into the air from a spot on the ground a few metres away. _'Never mind - found him!'_

* * *

"And you last saw him here?" Astrid asked, trying desperately to keep calm. She was starting to understand why Hiccup had been so sarcastic as a teenager (and still was): some people were, truly, stupendously stupid. It no longer surprised her that there was something strange happening, but _gods _she was sick of everyone asking her for answers they knew she didn't have.

_'Yeah. Right over there. Don't touch it!' _Skullcrusher shouted suddenly, noticing Snotlout reach out to prod the space Hiccup had occupied, leaning over from his place on Barf and Belch's back to do so. He jerked backwards at the warning, instantly trying to act cool afterwards. _'You might disappear too!'_

"Okay..." Astrid said hesitantly. Ridiculous and impossible situations were Hiccup's area of expertise, damn it, and she really had no clue what to do next. She took a steadying breath: "Okay. Everybody stay away from the area, for now; I'll start investigating this... this."

* * *

"Hookfang!" Hiccup yelled, ignoring the crowd of strangely dressed people that he'd just had to fight his way through. He slowly approached the panicking dragon. _'It's okay. It's okay...'_

Hookfang shook his head adamantly, closing his eyes against the strange flashes coming from the even stranger devices the crowd members were all holding.

"Would you stop that?" he snapped, turning to face the people. "You're scaring him!"

The crowd stayed silent for a second, muttering to each other for a bit before restarting their yelling tenfold. _They don't understand me! _Hiccup realised. _And I don't understand them..._

Momentarily ignoring the language barrier, Hiccup moved onto more pressing matters: Hookfang's wellbeing, primarily. _'I'm here now, and we're going to work out a way out of here.' _he said, as quietly as he could to still be heard over the growing noise from the crowd. He edged towards the dragon, palm facing out. Hookfang completed the gesture by pushing his head into Hiccup's palm, letting out a decidedly calmer snort.

"Great. Now, let's get back to where I left Toothless -" Hiccup spared a glance over at the darkened street corner that Toothless watched the scene from, the night fury clearly wanting to join the action but staying back to not cause any more confusion, "- and get out of here. For good."

Hookfang nodded his agreement, crouching in preparation to take off. Instead of launching himself upwards, Hookfang suddenly slumped to the floor, eyes slipping shut and his breathing slowing.

"Hookfang!" Hiccup yelled, and Toothless pounced. The crowd screamed at the introduction of a second dragon, and Toothless soon succumbed to the same thing Hookfang had. A glint of red on their backs revealed it to be a tranquilliser of sorts.

"Ah!" Hiccup gasped, holing his hand up to his neck reflexively as he felt a prick there. He had just enough time to register that he, too, had been struck by whoever was hiding in the shadows before his legs buckled and he collided with the pavement.

* * *

When Hiccup came to, he was alone. Or, he was the only one awake in the room. He could see Toothless and Hookfang, both still asleep, on the other side of the room. They seemed to be in completely different lighting though, as though someone was shining a reflective shield in Hiccup's eyes whenever he tried to look at them.

Groaning slightly, Hiccup pushed himself up off the ground. He stood up slowly and started walking over to the dragons.

"Ow!" Hiccup hissed, frowning. He'd been walking along, minding his own business, when he'd suddenly bumped into something. But there was nothing there. A changewing, perhaps? Hiccup didn't have time to investigate though: a click from the other side of the room caught his attention.

On the other side of the room, a door opened. A man stepped through, expression blank and holding a few pieces of paper. He was dressed as oddly as everyone else Hiccup had met so far.

"Hello," the man said, and Hiccup was pleasantly surprised to find that he could understand him.

"You speak Norse?" he checked.

The man nodded shortly. "Now, time for me to ask the questions. Firstly: who are you?"

"I'm Hiccup," he introduced. "These two are Toothless and Hookfang. And there's something blocking the way between us..."

"It's a glass barrier." the man deadpanned. "Anyway: what are those?"

"Dragons, obviously!" Hiccup gave the man a questioning look. "Why've you separated me and the dragons?"

"We don't know if they're dangerous yet. And we don't know if you are, either, so you'd better co-operate.

Hiccup frowned. "You mustn't know much about Vikings," he commented. "We have stubbornness issues."

The man smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Well, Americans aren't much better."

Hiccup puzzled over that statement for a second. America was supposed to be uncharted land, impossibly out of reach and full of riches. How had he managed to stumble across it, and find it full of rude people, no less?

Groans from the other side of the barrier stopped that train of thought, as Toothless and Hookfang stirred. _'Toothless!' _he shouted, _'How are you?'_

The oddly dressed man looked confused about the use of Dragonese, but Hiccup felt no great rush to inform him. _'Get over here,' _he continued, _'And we can escape!'_

The two dragons nodded, attempting to fly over and finding themselves hitting the same, strangely invisible barrier that Hiccup had. Toothless shook himself off and shot a quick plasma blast that made short work of the 'glass' - _some barrier, _Hiccup thought scathingly, _couldn't even survive a simple dragon attack! - _before leaping through the now-smouldering hole.

_'Let's go, bud!' _Hiccup laughed, grabbing Toothless's harness as Hookfang shot a hole in the walls, giving the trio easy access to the outside. They managed to escape and fly quite far before they realised that they still didn't have a plan other than 'escape.'

_'Where now, then? I doubt that we'll just get -'_

And Hiccup, Toothless and Hookfang blinked out of existence.

* * *

_'- transported back to Berk at random. Oh.' _Hiccup finished, finding himself suddenly face to face with Astrid.

"Woah!" she yelped, startling and jerking back. "Where'd you come from?"

"America!" Hiccup laughed. "And it's full of rude people; no point going and looking for it anymore!"

"You... But... Welcome back."

* * *

**About the not-knowing-what-glass-is thing: I know that book!Fishlegs has glasses, but there's no glass in the films/TV series, and I'm taking creative licence for a couple of seconds worth of humour. (Though if anyone knows a lot about the history of glass for some reason...)**


	40. Chapter 40

**A/n: Shorter than last time, another of TNT's ideas. I couldn't find any of the names of Eret's gang of dragon trappers anywhere, so I've had to leave them all unnamed. If anyone knows the actual names, or the generally accepted ones, let me know! (Also: over 100 reviews - wow! Thanks guys!)**

* * *

After Eret had inexplicably left them in the middle of the sea, the small band of dragon trappers had been a bit confused. At first they tried to follow their leader, loyalty forcing them to press on even when they realised that he was going to Drago. In a stroke of luck - for them, at least - Drago was nowhere to be found by the time they arrived. Neither was Eret. And they'd thought that that was the end of that, unanimously deciding to leave and try to find a new leader, or a different job.

They'd been doing quite well for themselves until they were attacked.

It was a monster unlike anything they'd seen; they couldn't beat it even with their extensive arsenal of weapons. It didn't seem to be a dragon, either, which threw them slightly.

When a part of the boat broke off but remained floating, the strongest swimmer of the group hopped onto it and kicked off, promising to return with help.

* * *

In the middle of another patrol, Eret noticed something floating below them.

"Hey," he alerted Hiccup, "I'm going to check that thing out."

He swooped down, concentrating on what he had now identified as a piece of wood. He stopped short a few metres away, realising that the man who was trying desperately to kick in the opposite direction was actually one of the members of his old dragon trapping crew.

"Stop!" he called, Skullcrusher picking them up and lifting them out of the water. "It's me!"

"Eret?" the other questioned. "I thought you'd..."

"Nah. Can't kill me!" Eret said lightly, "But, where's the rest of you?"

"Oh! This monster - massive thing - attacked us out of nowhere! The others are still back there, trying to defend themselves."

"Oh..." Eret said plainly. "Okay. I'll get Hiccup, and we'll go help." he assured.

"Hey! Hiccup! Rescue mission - come on!"

* * *

It only took a minute for Hiccup to alert the rest of the patrol - it only consisted of Valka, and she tended to stay close by anyway - and get over to the fight. It was well underway by the time they arrived, with half the boat already underwater.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked, Toothless ducking down to pick two of them out of the water.

"No injuries," Eret reported from his place on the ship. "I'll take the crew back to Berk... should I get help?"

"We can manage," Hiccup decided, dropping the two crew members he'd saved off on Skullcrusher's back. "Now go!"

Eret nodded determinedly and shot off, with a promise to return as soon as possible.

"Right." Hiccup said once he'd seen the men get away safely, "Let's see if we can't talk sense into this thing."

Toothless moved in front of the beast's face, coming in at eye level with it. _'Hey...' _Hiccup started hesitantly, hoping that the creature - whatever it was, it wasn't a dragon - spoke Dragonese.

There was no response, other than a sharp roar that nearly knocked Hiccup straight off Toothless's back. _So... no Dragonese, I take it._

Valka tried next, coming in closer and waving her staff in a complex pattern. The tactic worked much better than Hiccup's, actually managing to grab the creature's attention, but didn't stop it from taking a swing at the two dragon riders. The blow glanced Hiccup, hitting him enough to knock him off Toothless but not knock him out.

The reaction from the dragons was instantaneous. Toothless dived down to catch his rider instantly, giving Cloudjumper a quick look that communicated the plan between the two. The older dragon then started flying around the creature, distracting it so that it couldn't dodge or block Toothless's alpha-powered plasma blast.

The two made short work of it, taking it out with only one hit.

"Toothless!" Hiccup admonished, watching the large monster disappear under the water, leaving slight ripples as it went under, never to resurface. "What was that for?"

_'It hit you.' _Toothless explained. _'And it didn't speak Dragonese; it couldn't be reasoned with. And it _hit _you,' _he repeated, _'So I had to do _something.'

Hiccup sighed, shaking his head at the overprotective dragons. "Fine. Well, we'd better be heading back now; there're some new residents to get settled in."

* * *

With Toothless's speed, Hiccup caught up to Eret before he reached Berk.

"What happened to the thing?" the former trapper asked.

"Toothless." Hiccup explained shortly, frowning disapprovingly at his dragon as he did. He still wasn't over the way the dragons had so quickly killed the beast, even if it _had _struck out at him. He'd been fine in the end, and the worst that would come of it would probably be a few bruises.

Eret nodded his understanding. "Want to meet the newest residents of Berk?" he offered.

Hiccup agreed, settling down to listen to Eret's dragon trapping tales while he waited for Valka to catch up.


	41. Chapter 41

**A/n: Sorry for the masses of TNT's suggestions; I've been doing all the ideas I get in chronological order of when I receive them, so if anyone sends a lot at the same time then I'll be stuck on them for a while. Mainly, that's because I'd probably end up forgetting to do one if I didn't. From now on I'll try a more random approach that spaces out suggestions from different people, so if I forget yours, don't hesitate to tell me!  
We'll start with movielover48's, then - thanks for letting me know about the problem!**

* * *

The cove, Hiccup and Toothless's favourite place to spend time together other than the air, had soon become Berk's worst kept secret. Everyone knew that the two alphas could be found there more often than not, but nobody ever approached them when they were resting there unless it was to alert them of the direst emergency.

Unless, apparently, you were Gobber.

"Hey, Hiccup!" the one-legged, one-armed Viking called, trying and failing to take the entrance Hiccup usually did when accessing the cove by foot. (It was barely the width of a shield, and Gobber took proud in his stout, Vikingly stature.)

"What is it?" Hiccup asked. Despite his immediate assumption that there was some sort of apoplectic situation back on Berk - why else would anyone bother him? - Gobber seemed very calm. So, his words were laced with suspicion, and it was with slight caution that he approached his mentor.

"The new people - those trapper guys Eret likes - want a dragon."

"Can't it wait?" Hiccup asked, glancing back at Toothless, who was still asleep, as he had been just seconds before Gobber showed up. Hiccup knew he sounded petulant now, but _it was his day off, _and Gobber had woken him from a brilliant nap!

"If it could, would I be here?" Gobber responded. Hiccup rolled his eyes at the man and headed back over to Toothless.

"Fine," he relented, "I'll find them a dragon, teach them the basics, and _nothing else. _And if I'm not back at the cove within an hour, someone else can do it." he glared pointedly at Gobber, who knew full well that Valka was also good at judging the bond between dragon and rider. "It's still my day off." he tacked onto the end, reminding Gobber that he wasn't going to get roped into anything after that.

Gobber agreed to those terms, and Hiccup woke Toothless to let him know what was going on before he trudged out of the cove after the blacksmith.

* * *

One and a half hours later, Hiccup stumbled back into the cove, smoking from several places and sporting a few new bruises.

"Hey bud!" Hiccup greeted happily, taking Toothless's head in his hands as the dragon nuzzled him affectionately. "What do you want to do now?"

_'Go for a flight!' _Toothless suggested happily. _'Round the forest, dodging the trees! Then we could catch dinner and go back here.'_

Hiccup grinned at the thought of some more dangerous flying. _'Sounds great!' _he agreed, _'I'll go get my flying gear!'_

Hiccup retrieved his helmet from its place on the rock he'd been napping near previously, then rushed back over to hop on Toothless's back.

* * *

Hiccup smirked as they dodged another tree, just inches between them and the bark. Another immediately joined to take its place, and it only took a slight turn and click of the tailfin to swerve past that one, too.

_'Hey, bud. I have an idea,' _Hiccup said, realising that they were nearing the cove. Their dinner - a few fish - sat in the barrel attached to Hiccup's back. _'Switch back to automatic.'_

Toothless nodded, and the tailfin clicked to its new setting. Hiccup attached the barrel to Toothless's back rather than his own, then slowly started to push himself into a slightly crouched standing position. He leapt from Toothless just as the last tree disappeared, opening the wings by his side immediately after to start a quick dive into the cove, Toothless just behind him.

He was going too fast to land normally, so he decided to simply collapse the wings instead. Toothless let out a stared yelp as Hiccup suddenly disappeared from his sight, then laughed and swept down to join his rider as he heard the splash that revealed Hiccup's plan.

The two played in the water for a while, splashing each other, until Hiccup's stomach rumbled.

"Heh," he laughed, "Looks like its time for lunch!"

Toothless nodded, grabbing Hiccup in his legs and floating on his back over to the edge of the water. The two clambered out, shaking themselves off as Hiccup tried to detach the barrel. Once they'd managed that, Toothless set a fire.

Soon, the two were happily enjoying their meal, a comfortable silence surrounding them as they enjoyed each other's presence. They stayed like that until Hiccup drifted off to sleep, then Toothless patted the fire out and drew hid wings around his friend.

* * *

"Hey! Hiccup!" Several hours later, the two were jerked from their sleep again.

"Gobber..." Hiccup mumbled, crawling out from under Toothless's wings with a yawn. "What is it?"

"Well, you said you weren't doing anything else to_day!_" Gobber said, gesturing to the darkening sky. "So, now that it's night you can help!" he grinned at his loophole, "I need some new saddles for those dragons!"

Hiccup groaned.


	42. Chapter 42

**A/n: I've worked out a new order for the requests I've had, and trystrike's (aka: this one right here) is at the top of that list! Then it's movielover48's, a few from pooh sticks and TNT (I've sent all yours to the back of the list, so it'll be a few days until any more of yours crop up), then nothing - so far. There's also a few ideas of my own - they had to form eventually - that'll be making appearances, so there're a lot of chapters planned and ready to write!**

* * *

Astrid tapped her foot impatiently. She was stood outside the hall, waiting for Hiccup. _He's supposed to be here! _she thought, slightly more angry than worried. It was odd that he hadn't turned up yet - he had to be awake; Toothless always got him up at a ridiculously early hour for their first flight of the day. Without the wake up call of a night fury banging on the roof or licking his face, Hiccup could sleep through the entire day. But Toothless was relentless, so that wasn't an option.

_Maybe he fell asleep after the flight... _Astrid mused. _He _has _been pretty busy lately, it'd make sense if he was tired..._

* * *

"Hey, Hiccup?" Astrid called out. "I'm coming up!" she warned, doing just that as she mentally crossed off a few more options from her list. He was definitely here, so he must've fallen asleep.

He was asleep when Astrid got to him, but it didn't seem like he'd woken up previously. She frowned as she watched him wriggle under his blanket, feeling slightly bad to wake him up.

She soon got over the feeling.

"Hiccup!" she hissed, shaking him now, "Wake up!"

"Hmmm?" Hiccup hummed sleepily, not bothering to open his eyes. "Toothless..."

"No; Astrid!" Astrid snapped. "Wake up! You're late!"

"What?" Hiccup asked, sitting up and suddenly awake. "Toothless..."

"I _just _told you! I'm - what are you _doing?" _Astrid's rage stopped short as Hiccup pushed the covers off himself and rushed over to the other side of the room, where Toothless lay. "What is it?" she asked, tone softening as she noticed Hiccup's panic.

"Toothless is too warm." Hiccup explained grimly. The dragon in front of him let out a weak cooing noise that Astrid couldn't translate. _'Hey, bud... It's me...'_

_'Hiccup...' _Toothless moaned weakly, opening his eyes to reveal that they were clouded with pain.

"I'll... go get Gothi..." Astrid said awkwardly, suddenly feeling as though she was intruding. "And I'll tell Cloudjumper to take Toothless's place - and take your place, yeah... uhh... bye!"

With that, Astrid left. Neither Hiccup nor Toothless noticed her disappearance.

* * *

"I'm back!" Astrid announced brightly, closing the door for Gothi. "He's up there," she told her, quieter this time, as she started up the stairs. "Hiccup?"

"Oh! Astrid!" Hiccup said, looking at her with a startled expression. "Toothless, he's -"

"I know," Astrid chided, "I was there a few minutes ago. Are you okay?" she asked next, frowning at Hiccup's dazed look. Gothi coughed pointedly. "Oh, yeah. Gothi's here; everything's going to be fine."

Hiccup relaxed considerably at the mention of the village healer, smiling slightly up at the old woman. Gothi simply shook her head in response before looking over at Toothless. She'd become rather proficient at healing dragons over the years, after working out the differences in treatments between them and Vikings. There weren't may, to say that the two species were so dissimilar.

"I'm going now," Astrid told the two, looking directly at Hiccup to try to gauge if he was listening. His eyes, albeit slightly unfocused, were trained in her direction, so she assumed he was, and continued: "To run Berk for you, while you help Toothless. Come get me if you need anything, okay?"

Gothi nodded, and Astrid left the room. The healer moved over to Toothless's side and held a hand out to feel his temperature. She wasn't pleased with what she found, but knew it could be worse. Next she turned to Hiccup, shooing him away after communicating a need for water.

The younger Viking wandered out of the room, and Gothi tutted. Kids these days, overreacting and getting so worked up over a small illness.

* * *

_'Come on Stormfly; you can help me!'_

_'No; I need to help the dragons.' _Stormfly insisted stubbornly. After discovering that both of Berk's leaders would be out for the day, she instantly volunteered herself to help on Toothless's behalf. She supposed that, in all reality, it made more sense for Cloudjumper to become a substitute alpha, but she was still annoyed that her rider had picked someone else over herself.

_'Then don't help anyone; go and try to calm Hiccup down - you know how protective he is.' _Astrid snapped, having no time for her dragon's pettiness.

Stormfly huffed, taking off in the direction of the other riders and their dragons.

_'Feeling useless?' _Meatlug guessed. Stormfly grumbled slightly; her irritation wasn't helped by the fact that the gronckle's guess had been correct.

_'I'll be fine.' _she responded. _'Now lets see of we can't help Cloudjumper.'_

Meatlug rolled her eyes at the nadder, taking off after her at a far more leisurely pace.

* * *

"What are you doing out here?"

"Gothi kicked me out. I might as well be useful..."

It seemed that Astrid's problems just wouldn't end; just as soon as she'd managed to get Stormfly to stop bugging her, Hiccup had turned up, looking no less worse for wear and blathering on about continuing his duties as chief.

"Clearly, you're too distracted." Astrid said shortly. "If you need something to do, why don't you go help out at the forge."

Hiccup looked at her contemplatively, about to agree to her suggestion -

"Hey, Hiccup!" A shout from a villager dashed those hopes, and Hiccup rushed off to fix whatever problem had arisen.

Well, at least he was out of Astrid's hair now.

* * *

Hiccup was most certainly _not _out of Astrid's hair.

Somehow, he'd managed to start three fires, seven fights, and Astrid was starting to rethink her plan to save him from the mob of confused, questioning Vikings that surrounded the dragons serving as a protective barricade. It was Hiccup's expression that forced her to continue, and she cursed the effectiveness of his lost puppy look as she had Stormfly lift him out of the situation, jumping from the nadder to face the masses herself.

At least Stormfly had something to do now.

If this was going to happen every time one of the two was out of action, Astrid realised, they'd need a plan for next time. She made a quick note to make one later before turning to the first villager, Bucket.

"My sheep turned into a dragon!"

Hiccup was very lucky that Astrid liked him so much. Very, very lucky.

* * *

Stormfly dropped Hiccup outside his house, which Gothi was just leaving. The elder used a series of hand gestures to explain that Toothless would be fine after a day's rest, then left, followed by the sound of Hiccup's gratuitous thanks.

Hiccup went straight inside, right up to Toothless - who was asleep again - and straight to sleep under his wing.

* * *

The next day, Astrid stormed over to the Haddock household, fully intending to grill Hiccup for the inconveniences he'd caused her the day before. When she came up to his room and saw him still asleep, mumbling into Toothless's scales as the dragon - awake and fully recovered - cooed comfortingly to him, she reconsidered.

She'd wait until after the morning flight to yell at him. After all, that's when their meeting was scheduled - if a day prior.


	43. Chapter 43

**A/n: ****This is based off movielover48's idea, but I've actually already written a Hiccup and Toothless comforting each other after dad-related nightmares chapter (number 14, to be precise), so this is still a nightmare, but a different one with different effects.**

* * *

Hiccup flinched backwards, watching on in helpless horror as his worst nightmare was carried out. Toothless was being attacked, viciously, by just about everyone Hiccup had ever met. He let out a panicked gasp as Astrid stuck a sword into the defenceless night fury's wing, twisting it with a cruel smile on her face.

"Stop!" he cried again, pushing through the arms of the Viking that had previously been restraining him. "You'll kill him!"

"That's the point." Snotlout shot back, pulling out a mace with a grin similar to Astrid's. Hiccup growled at the response, fighting through the masses of people - and a few dragons - to get to his friend.

"Enough!" Stoick yelled, bringing silence to the mob. "No more fooling around: finish it."

"Gladly," Valka smirked, holding up a fang from her bewilderbeast - the only thing not invited to the let's-kill-Toothless party, on account of it being too dead to accept the offer - and bringing it down directly on Toothless's heart.

"No! Toothless!" Hiccup yelled, leaping forwards to get in the way of the incoming fang, impaling himself on it in the process. A sear of pain flashed through him - originating from his leg rather than his chest, for some reason - and the world flashed to black.

* * *

Hiccup woke, drenched in cold sweat and panting. It took him a few pain-hazed seconds to realise that he was in his room. Next, he worked out a more accurate description of his position: lying on the floor, on top of his painfully twisted leg. He winced as he repositioned himself, then remembered what he'd been dreaming about.

"Toothless!" he whispered sharply, staring at the dragon. He was fine, of course - it was just a nightmare - so Hiccup could relax. Instead, he crawled over to Toothless's side and leant against it for the rest of the night.

* * *

Toothless was starting to think that something was wrong with his rider. For starters, Hiccup had refused completely to leave his side. While normal that they'd spend most of the day together, Hiccup wasn't one to let his own wants and needs inconvenience others. That said, Toothless was certain that he'd be suspicious even without the other things. As it stood, there _were _other things, too.

Hiccup had that tired glaze his eyes took when he'd had one too many sleepless nights, yet there wasn't a single sheep torture method in the form of a new invention in sight. He kept glancing around, as though he expected someone to jump them in the middle of the crowded street.

_'What's wrong?" _Toothless eventually asked.

_'What? Uhh... nothing!' _Hiccup lied, badly. _'I'm fine...' _he chuckled nervously.

_'Nightmares?' _Toothless guessed. The way his rider looked slightly to the side said it all. _'What happened?' _Toothless asked, his previous anger melting away to sympathy.

_'People were attacking you.' _Hiccup revealed. Well, it explained the over-protectiveness.

Toothless smiled. _'I'm the alpha, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, remember? It's you we should be worrying about - the scrawny, one-legged Viking!'_

Hiccup returned the smile with a weak one of his own. _'Thanks bud.' _he said, eyes still downcast, _'It's just - everyone ganged up on you. They nearly had you killed, and everyone just -'_

_'It was a dream.' _Toothless reminded Hiccup with stern warmth. _'Now get back to work so that Astrid doesn't have a go at me for distracting you.'_

Hiccup nodded and turned to the villagers milling about.

_'Hey, wait! I'm coming too!' _Toothless yelled, bounding after Hiccup.


	44. Chapter 44

**A/n: It feels like forever since I did one of TNT's ideas. I'm doing this one then movielover48's. So, for now: enjoy what I've been affectionately calling 'Torch is Back in Town!'**

* * *

Small ripples travelled calmly over the sea. Hiccup smiled as he watched the waves rolling, lazily turning his head to see Toothless's reaction - the same as his, as always - to the moment of relaxation.

Hiccup frowned when Toothless's ears pricked. _Did he hear something? _he wondered, suddenly on high alert as his eyes darted back to the ocean. He calmed slightly as he felt Toothless relax beside him, but his curiosity was piqued. What had made the night fury so tense?

_'What is it bud?' _Hiccup asked, still squinting out at the ocean.

_'Saw a typhoomerang.' _the dragon explained. _'Don't think it'll come over here though. It started flying in the opposite direction.'_

Hiccup shrugged. He knew that typhoomerangs had interesting flight patterns that could sometimes circle, but he trusted that Toothless had kept that in mind too. _'Well, as long as it doesn't come any closer... we can investigate it later.' _he decided. _'For now, let's get back to work.'_

* * *

Torch started flying a little slower once he realised which island was Berk. It stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of the archipelago, something he remembered from his previous visits. Looking to the children on his back, he smiled. Berk would make a great place for them to grow up - and they could meet the famous dragon whisperer.

He set a more direct course and sped up again, diving down to the sea level and creating large waves with his wings that splashed his children slightly. They laughed at his actions, and he chuckled along with them.

_Time flies when you're having fun... _he thought, looking up to see that the cliff face he'd been heading for was suddenly only a few metres away. He hovered for a while, watching the dragon residents flying in and out of the cave entrance. Berk sure had changed while he'd been away.

_'Come on,' _he said, encouraging his children to hop off his back. _'You can fly the rest of the way.'_

The four typhoomerangs flew in a downwards spiral into the middle of the village, landing neatly - or not so neatly, in the case of the three young dragons - in front of Hiccup.

_'You.' _Toothless growled. Torch laughed awkwardly; apparently, the dragon still hadn't quite forgiven him for the 'eating all his fish' incident.

_'You?' _Hiccup repeated, much less venom in his voice as he looked at the two dragons curiously. He wracked his brains to think of a typhoomerang that Toothless would have a - oh.

_'Torch!' _Hiccup greeted pleasantly. _'And your children!' _he noted happily, watching the young dragons edge out away from their parent with nervous curiosity. _'What brings you here?'_

_'We're gonna live here!' _Torch announced happily. Hiccup grinned widely at the announcement and started babbling about arrangements for the family, while Toothless sulked. It may have been childish, but those fish had been _his._

While the adults were busy trying to sort out a place for them to live or pouting by their friend's side, the children wandered off in search of someone to play with.

* * *

_'You eat eels?'_ Sleekscales asked, staring at the three typhoomerangs.

_'You _don't _eat eels?'_ One asked, frowning._ 'I thought everyone did.' _he admitted, taking a bite from the offending sea creature to prove the point.

_'Of course not! Stormfly says we should never eat them! And Hiccup agrees!' _Laze revealed, nodding seriously. He respected Hiccup's decision not to let them eat eel, especially since they smelled so bad - give him a rock over an eel any day!

_'Well, we eat eels, and nothing happens to _us!' another argued, slightly confused. Torch had never said anything about not eating eels - it was practically all he ate!

_'Yeah! Hey, maybe you should try one.' _the first suggested.

_'I don't know...' _Sleekscales said hesitantly.

_'Oh! I will! I will!' _Fireworm volunteered, taking a huge bite out of one.

_'Well...' _Laze said when the monstrous nightmare didn't move, _'How is it?'_

_'I don't feel well...' _Fireworm groaned, opening his mouth to spit the eel out but letting out a massive flame instead.

_'Woah!' _Laze shouted, narrowly avoiding the flame, _'We have to get Hiccup!'_

* * *

Several hours and a few burns later, Fireworm was cured. The young dragons had all been sent to bed to sleep off the excitement of the day, while the older dragons and Vikings all started to repair the dragons.

"You okay?" Astrid asked Hiccup, noticing his ragged appearance.

"Hey, I didn't get slammed into a tree this time!" he joked, "Well, not so hard I was knocked out... I'm fine!" he said quickly, noticing Astrid's worried expression.

"What _happened?" _she asked, "Why would one of the kids try an eel? I thought we -"

"We taught them otherwise, but some typhoomerangs were eating them, so they got curious. No harm done though -" Hiccup winced as another house collapsed in on itself, "- okay, _some _harm done, but only property damage. It's an occupational hazard!"

_'Shouldn't have typhoomerangs.' _Toothless muttered irritably. _'See? They're trouble.'_

_'As are you, Mr Moody-pants.' _Hiccup reminded him. _'Just because he ate your fish doesn't make him evil. And they're living here, whether you like it or not.'_


	45. Chapter 45

**A/n: Movielover48's idea this time. We're nearing 50 chapters too, which is amazing. (I didn't expect it to get that far!) I'll have to come up with something special for the 50th chapter.**

* * *

Five years of peace, five years of living amongst dragons, and five years of the strongest friendship Berk had ever seen.

Hiccup couldn't believe that it tomorrow (five years ago) was the day he'd battled the green death, ended the war between Vikings and dragons on Berk and become a Viking hero. And he'd only had to kill a dragon to do it - the irony was by no means lost on him for that.

A lot had changed in Berk in that time. The entire village had been rebuilt, it had become a dragon sanctuary in place of the bewilderbeast's, and everyone had a dragon now. The villagers had changed - mainly for the better; they'd become more accepting and friendly, while still keeping their usual Viking 'qualities' of stubbornness and a love of violence. And, of course, some people weren't there anymore. But this was a time of celebration.

Hiccup smiled at the bittersweet memories of the past years as he gazed down on Berk. Looking at it from such an angle always made him think, especially when riding on the back of his best friend. _'Let's go, bud.'_ he encouraged, leaning forwards as Toothless dropped into a steep dive.

All thoughts left his mind as he moved through the sky, whooping in delight as he and Toothless swerved around rocks, brushed against the water and touched the clouds. Hiccup stood up on Toothless's back as the night fury sped up, surfing on his dragon's back as he started another dive, this time straight down into the middle of the village. At the last moment the two pulled up, stopping hard enough to nearly send Hiccup careening over the edge of the saddle and over a cliff edge. Instead, he barely kept his balance and jumped from Toothless's back, running with him back to their house.

"Typical." Valka laughed as she watched her son disappear off. "Not even a hello. Coast's clear!" she shouted to the other Vikings, "We can start getting ready now!"

* * *

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup looked over to the cove's entrance. "Oh, hey Astrid..." he said, pushing himself up to go over to her. "What's up?"

"Are you coming back to the village?" Astrid asked, ignoring his question.

"Umm... sure. Right now?" he checked, "'Cause me and Toothless were about to try this new trick where he -"

"Yes, right now." Astrid cut him off. "Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and tugging him towards the exit.

"Okay..." Hiccup agreed confusedly. "Hey Toothless - whoa! slow down! - we're going back! Come on!"

* * *

Despite appearing very excited to lure Hiccup back to the village, Astrid disappeared the moment she arrived there, leaving Hiccup and Toothless alone. It was an odd kind of alone - usually, alone meant 'in the presence of at least three other people/dragons that aren't paying attention' when he was in the village. Now, there was absolutely no sign of life.

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked tentatively. No reply came. He edged further into the village, eyes darting around to try to see _someone. _"Where are y-"

"Surprise!" Hiccup jumped as he heard the chorus of voices, then saw the entire village jump out from behind various houses to land in front of him. He tumbled back into Toothless - who looked as confused as him - in his shock. As the two tried to get an understanding of what was happening, the crowd started laughing.

"You should see your face!" Astrid giggled, coming to the front of the gathered Vikings and dragons. Hiccup rolled his eyes at her amusement, but couldn't help smiling himself. "So, do you like the surprise?"

"Yeah," Hiccup laughed. "You got me. What was that _for?" _he wondered.

"Your party!" Fishlegs announced, shoving a gronckle out of the way to reach the three friends. The rest of the dragon riders came through after him.

_A party in my honour... _Hiccup thought incredulously.

"What are we waiting for? Let's celebrate!" Snotlout ordered, pointing dramatically to the hall.

* * *

For a people who found joy in beating each other up and valued people's ability to pound others into the dirt, Berk sure knew how to throw a party. Loud music blasted out that even louder Vikings sang along to, dancing to the beat of rarely-used instruments. Toothless was in the dancing crowd, in his own circle as people tried to avoid being taken out by his swinging tail. The only person crazy enough to try to approach the dragon was Hiccup, who was dancing along with the night fury despite his leg ruining any hope of the dance being graceful or in rhythm.

After the fifth time he got smacked into someone by Toothless's wild moves, Hiccup decided to sit down. He found Astrid, already sat at a table, and dropped down onto the bench next to her. "It's a great party." he complimented.

"And you have great moves." Astrid joked. "It was a joint effort - mainly my and Valka's work, but the dragons certainly helped."

Hiccup nodded. He'd been cornered by no less than ten dragons during the course of the evening, each of whom had given a very energetic thanks to him for all his hard work, some even going so far as to start shouting about how amazing he was to the surrounding dragons. "Not dancing?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"No," Astrid responded. "Why dance when you can watch everyone else make a fool of themselves?"

"How about you do _both?" _Hiccup offered, standing up and extending a hand.

"Maybe I will." Astrid grinned, taking the hand and following Hiccup into the crowd.


	46. Chapter 46

**A/n: A short one, pooh stick's idea.**

* * *

The air was, in Hiccup's opinion, the safest place to be. Many other Vikings didn't share the sentiment - they wouldn't admit it, but many had a fear of heights. They feared falling, and more importantly the result of them making contact with the ground.

Hiccup knew that the fear of heights was based off a lack of trust. No matter how comfortable the people of Berk may say they were in the air, only those who trusted their dragons with their lives would ever be truly at home. It was a shame, he thought, that there were so few who _could _trust their dragons like he did. Even after losing his leg from falling, Hiccup didn't fear flying - he knew that Toothless would always catch him. And if he didn't, he'd give it his best shot.

"Read, bud?" Hiccup checked, patting Toothless's neck. The night fury rolled his eyes, but Hiccup could tell that he was apprehensive of attempting their newest stunt. "It'll be fine!" he insisted.

_'Yeah, like the wings were fine the first time...' _Toothless muttered sarcastically.

Hiccup scoffed. "That _was _fine. Sure, we crash landed, but no harm done, right?"

Toothless didn't respond, and Hiccup took that as a signal to go. In keeping with his plan, he dived off Toothless's back. He didn't open his wings just yet, letting himself go into free-fall for a while, relaxing as the wind pushed his hair back. After a minute of uncontrolled drop, he pulled out the wings.

Toothless sped in front of him, moving from left to right as Hiccup tried to catch up. The plan was to try landing on a moving target; it would make jumping onto the backs of other dragons much easier, and it looked cool. The two started to slow down as they reached the tree layer, and Hiccup reached out for Toothless's wing.

Instead of grabbing it and pulling himself on, Hiccup managed to unbalance Toothless so that he lost control and span onto his back. Suddenly, the two were falling through the air, dangerously close to the highest branches now.

_'I told you this was a bad idea!' _Toothless yelled as they continued to plummet. They were hitting branches now, so neither could correct themselves.

"I think it's going - ow!" Hiccup slammed into a branch, knocking the air from his lungs. Toothless rolled his eyes and wrapped his wings around the Viking as they fell, protecting him from the majority of the tree-based assault.

They hit the ground with a snap, landing on the branches they'd knocked down during their fall. Toothless instantly unfolded his wings to check Hiccup's well being.

"Woo!" Hiccup shouted, jumping out of the protective cocoon clumsily. "That was _awesome!"_

Toothless snorted as he stood up, shaking some of the bits of tree from his scales. He hit Hiccup lightly with his tail.

"Fine. But we nearly had it!" Hiccup insisted. "If we just -" he let out a sudden yelp as he tripped over, landing in a tangle of limbs. "Little help?"

Toothless laughed; for all his grace in the air, Hiccup was ridiculously clumsy on land. He nudged his friend into a standing position and sniffed him down carefully.

"I'm okay," Hiccup said. "Now, let's try again, see if we can - oof!" he tripped for the second time, prosthetic getting caught on a root. "Okay... maybe we should just call it quits." he decided, letting Toothless nudge him onto his back to carry him home.


	47. Chapter 47

**A/n: Another relatively short one, this time TNT's idea - or TNTinetic's; they have an account now.**

* * *

Hiccup sat in the caves in the cliff, making notes in his sketchbook.

"So..." he mumbled, "Two new gronckles, a zippleback, five terrors... still no timberjacks..."

Ever since he'd started counting all the new arrivals to Berk, he'd noticed a strange lack of timberjacks. He couldn't work out why that would be; they were similar to typhoomerangs, and Torch had made it obvious that _they _had no problems living on the island.

_'Maybe they have a better place.' _Toothless suggested. _'Most dragons do - you know we didn't all live on Berk before the green death.'_

Hiccup hummed thoughtfully. There _was _a timberjack living on Berk - Stokehead - that he could ask about it, but he'd wanted to try to work it out for himself. That plan clearly wasn't getting him anywhere, though.

"Right." he sighed, "Time to visit Stokehead."

_'You're on your own.' _Toothless yawned, _'I'm having a nap.'_

* * *

As a timberjack, Stokehead was partial to the forest surrounding the village, and was found there more often than not. Today was no exception, so Hiccup was able to track him down with relative ease.

_'Oh, hey Hiccup.' _Stokehead greeted. _'Need anything?'_

_'Actually, yes.' _Hiccup admitted. _'You know the, um, other timberjacks? I couldn't help but notice that there aren't really any on Berk, so I was wondering... why that is?'_

Stokehead laughed. _'I don't know! I really like it here - can't see why anyone wouldn't. How about we go find some to ask?'_

_'Sounds good.' _Hiccup agreed, _'Let's just go get Toothless, then we can set off.'_

* * *

_'Did you _have _to fly with him?' _Toothless sulked.

"Of course I did! How else was I going to get down the cliff edge?" Hiccup argued lightly. He had expected the response from the night fury, but it was still funny. "It was hard enough getting _up."_

_'Fine. I'll go with you.' _Toothless said moodily. Hiccup smiled.

_'So... where do timberjacks tend to live, then?'_

_'Dragon island!'_

* * *

A few minutes later found the three hovering above the centre of dragon island. "So, now we just have to find one..." Hiccup said. "Can you see any from here?"

Toothless shook his head. _'We need to go a bit lower.' _he told them, flapping his wings a bit less to allow himself to drop.

_'I see one!' _Stokehead shouted. _'Hang on, I'll get them over here! Hey!' _he yelled, diving down.

Toothless and Hiccup shared a look, then shrugged. If it meant they got to talk to someone quicker, Stokehead could do whatever crazy attention grabbing technique he wanted.

_'What do you wan - oh!' _the other timberjack - a female, Hiccup noted - followed Stokehead back when he returned. _'That's -'_

_'Hiccup, yes.' _Stokehead said, pride showing in his voice. _'See? Told you I knew him!'_

_'And Toothless?' _the other checked, smiling at the night fury. Toothless nodded. _'Wow, I can't believe it! What're you doing here?'_

_'Uh... we were wondering why there are so few timberjacks on Berk.' _Hiccup said. _'Do you mind...'_

_'Telling you?' _the timberjack guessed. _'Huh. I never thought about it - we all just live here. Why? Can we come to Berk?'_

_'If you want.' _Hiccup nodded. _'I'm sure Stokehead could do with a few friends!'_

_'Sure! Let me just tell my friends!'_

And with that, the timberjack dived back down to the island. She returned soon, her friends with her.

"Oh." Hiccup said. He hadn't expected her to bring quite so many.

Berk gained eleven new members from the visit.


	48. Chapter 48

**A/n: This is Emerald's idea.**

**Semi-important note: The 50th chapter is fast approaching, and I have an idea for a basic plot, but if there's anything you want it to include (a vague idea of length (less than 1k/5k+), smaller things like fluff/angst or randomly specific stuff like someone sneezing/Snotlout being chucked off Hookfang's back) then feel free to fire away with the suggestions. Just no plot lines, and bear in mind that if two ideas contradict, I can't put them both in.**

**Thanks and enjoy!**

* * *

It was a slow day at the forge. Only a few saddles, two tooth repairs and Snotlout's request for 'one of those cool fire sword', which had quickly been denied.

Slow is a relative concept.

"Hey, Gobber?"

Gobber looked up, surprised to see Valka stood behind the service hatch. "Hey. What d'you need?" he asked. It was a typical question for customers, but it felt weird to say it to her; she never came to the forge, preferring to ride dragons without saddles and so never having a need to come over.

"Cloudjumper wants a saddle." Valka explained. "Something about it being for when Hiccup's there." It really was cute how much the older dragon babied Hiccup, taking an almost parental role as Valka had started acting more like a mother to the young chief.

"Ah. Okay... don't think I have a template for him... Hiccup!"

"Yes?" Hiccup responded, popping his head round the entrance to his section of the forge. "What is - oh, hi mum - what is it?"

"Cloudjumper needs a saddle." she repeated.

"Why? He's been perfectly fine without one for -"

"Yes, but maybe it's time for a change?" Valka interrupted, "Who knows why he did it? Still, I need one, so..."

"Okay. Just get him over here and I can get the measurements."

"Hiccup always gets the measurements." Gobber supplied pointlessly, "Other dragons don't seem to like it when I do it. Strange, really..."

"Yeah, strange." Hiccup laughed, following Valka out of the forge to go and get Cloudjumper.

Gobber shrugged as the two left, changing his prosthetic - previously his hairbrush (it _was _a slow day, after all) - to his hammer and setting to work. He hummed absent-mindedly as he worked, starting with a tune he and Stoick used to sing to when they went fishing in their youth.

* * *

Valka returned to the forge to hear a familiar tune. A tune that once filled her with great hope, but now just caused melancholy.

Gobber was completely unaware that he was humming For the Dancing and the Dreaming, let alone that Valka was right behind him to hear it.

"Hello, Gobber." Valka said awkwardly, coughing slightly to gain his attention.

"Oh! Hey Valka. Just putting he finishing touches on this!" He gestured to a sword, decorated with carvings resembling a nadder around the handle. Valka recognised it as the sword Hiccup had crafted for Astrid a few weeks ago - it must've got a lot of use to need sharpening already. "Astrid's coming to pick it up any time now. Oh! Speak o' the devil!"

Astrid smiled as Gobber waved his hammer hand at her, taking the sword from his other. Hiccup came in behind her, watching with interest as she tested the sword's balance.

"You got the measurements?" Gobber checked, to which Hiccup nodded. The blacksmith took the notes from Hiccup's hands and started making adjustments to fit Cloudjumper. As he worked, he picked up his tune.

"Oh, that's -" Hiccup said suddenly, recognising the song.

"For the Dancing and the Dreaming, yes." Valka confirmed. "It used to be my and Stoick's song." she explained to Astrid. A mischievous glimmer sparked in her eye, replacing the dull sadness, "Although... it could be yours and Hiccup's!"

Gobber laughed, abandoning his work as he moved over to grab a blushing Hiccup into an affectionate headlock. "I could teach you!" he offered.

"Ha... don't think we need that..." Hiccup said, worming his way out of Gobber's grip.

"Oh, come on! It could be fun!" Astrid pleaded.

Hiccup sighed. "Fine..."

"Great!" Gobber shouted, nearly clouting Hiccup with his hand, "It starts like this..."


	49. Chapter 49

**A/n: This one is a mix of requests from both Emerald and trystrike. I thought they could work pretty well together; I guess you guys are the judge of whether they could or not.**

* * *

Toothless crouched in the undergrowth, inwardly praying that he wouldn't be found. For a few tense moments he held his breath, before the footsteps around him paused and faded away.

The night fury let out a sigh of relief, crawling out of the bush he was hiding in and shaking a few leaves off him.

_'What was that for?'_

Toothless startled, springing up and around to come face to face with Hiccup. _'Gods, you scared me...' _he complained breathlessly.

_'I can see that. So, what _were _you doing?' _Hiccup prompted.

_'Escaping.' _Toothless said shortly. Hiccup raised an eyebrow. _'Everyone keeps asking me to do things for them. I figured I could do with a day off!'_

_'So you just ran off?' _Hiccup asked, genuinely confused. Irritated as the night fury seemed, that behaviour just didn't fit Toothless.

_'I left Cloudjumper in charge. He was the one that suggested it anyway.'_

Hiccup let out a quiet 'oh' of understanding; Cloudjumper wasn't protective of just Hiccup, he liked to help Toothless out as much as possible, too.

_'Why didn't you go to the cove?' _Hiccup wondered. _'Well, we can go now.' _he decided, hopping onto his dragon's back.

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless arrived at the cove not long after, taking their usual spot by the water. Just as the two were starting to relax, Toothless's ears pricked.

_'What is it, bud?' _Hiccup asked quietly, slowly standing to get a better look around him.

_'They're back.' _the dragon whispered cryptically. _'We've got to go.'_

_'Who's -' _Hiccup started to ask. Toothless pushed him over with his tail before he could say anything else, making shushing motions as he stared intently at the cove entrance.

Deciding against an indignant response that would end in the same treatment, Hiccup remained silent as he picked himself up. He stared at the spot his friend was so fixated on.

Nobody moved.

_'Toothless!' _The cry came as suddenly as the brightly coloured flashes of scales, giving Hiccup no time to work out what was going on before he was assaulted by multiple dragons. They weren't attacking him directly - they were far too concentrated on Toothless for that - but he still ended up receiving the brunt of the dragons' enthusiasm.

"W... what... who," Hiccup chocked out, being strangled unintentionally by one of the dragons - a nadder, he thought - that was surrounding Toothless. "Are these..."

_'The ones I was running from?' _Toothless guessed. _'Yes, and they're resilient. Would you just... go... _away!' he yelled, pushing the dragons back with a powerful strike of his back legs. _'Come on, Hiccup!'_

This time, Hiccup didn't hesitate to jump onto the night fury's back, allowing the two to jet off at speeds that proved the claims made about the superiority of the species when it came to flying. In just a few powerful beats of his wings, Toothless had the cluster of dragons behind them hopelessly outmatched, and Hiccup had a new hiding place in mind.

* * *

"Do you really _have _to stay here?" Astrid asked, curious more than sceptical. "Don't you have the -"

"The cove? No. Apparently, Toothless's little band of fangirls have infiltrated it already." Hiccup said sharply.

Astrid sighed. "Of course they have. How does he even have that many?"

_'I'm popular, and single!' _Toothless joked, imitating Snotlout's voice as best he could while speaking a completely different language.

Hiccup laughed. "Suppose the single thing could be it." he said, only half serious, "Maybe we should get you a girlfriend."

Toothless looked horrified at the mere thought. _'No!' _he said forcefully, shaking his head, _'That's a terrible idea!'_

"I was just kidding," Hiccup defended lightly, chuckling at his friend's expense. "Now let's get in, before those fangirls find us again..."


	50. Chapter 50

**A/n: Here's the slightly-awaited 50th chapter! Being as I didn't get any requests, I took that as you guys giving me the all clear to just do whatever I want, which is what I did. So yeah.**

** I hope you like crossovers! **

* * *

Tony's eyes widened as he caught his first first-hand glimpse of space. In any other circumstance, it would've been beautiful. Unfortunately, the effect was rather ruined by the lack of proper equipment. The suit's power had been fluctuating for some time already, and the lights from the screen finally dimmed altogether. They'd actually been to slow for Tony's liking; now, the last thing he ever saw would be the failure to connect with Pepper.

He didn't think anything, not consciously, just let his eyes drift shut as he embraced the darkness threatening to engulf him. Before he succumbed completely, the scene changed. He hadn't thought that death would be brought along by a view of the ocean.

* * *

Astrid smiled slightly as she noticed Eret's expression. Though Ruffnut had mostly got over her massive crush on him, she still managed to freak him out with her lack of personal boundaries. This was one such occasion, where Skullcrusher had to send a warning shot at Barf and Belch to get them to back off. Eret noticed her amusement and scowled at her, only serving to further Astrid's amusement.

"Something funny?" Hiccup asked, looking between the two. Concentrated as ever on his flying companion, Hiccup had managed to almost entirely miss the exchange between the two riders.

"No." Eret said, at the same time Astrid offered the opposite answer. He glared at her again. "Just Ruffnut flying a bit close."

Hiccup smiled at that, understanding what he'd seen. "I'll tell her to back off. Again..." he said irritably, turning to the twins to give another stern warning that the duo would surely ignore.

"Ruffnut?" he called. She didn't respond. "Ruffnut!"

"What's that?" she said curiously, completely ignoring Hiccup's call. The others followed her gaze, seeing a slight ripple in the sky.

"Stay away from it - or at least approach slowly," Hiccup cautioned, "I've seen it before; it's the portal... thingy."

"It'll send us to another world? _Cool!" _the twins enthused. They didn't heed Hiccup's warning and flew straight up to the ripple.

The others followed, much slower, until they came level with the twins.

"Okay, let's stay here..." Hiccup advised. "If we just watch it, we'll have an idea of what's going on."

They sat in silence for a while, watching the swirl grow. As it got bigger, the area it encompassed started to darken, making it look as though there was a small patch of night in the middle of the midday sky. For a second it shrank back, before exploding outwards to cover the riders.

"Oh gods, not again." Hiccup said sarcastically. There wasn't time to say anything else, as the vortex pulled them in, and they found themselves falling.

* * *

The next thing Tony was aware of was that the Hulk could be very loud. _Very _loud.

He jerked awake at the yell from the Other Guy, and the second thing he was aware of was pain. Not too much; just enough to remind him that yes, he was still alive. Yippee.

"Please tell me nobody kissed me," he said breathlessly. From the tired chuckles he received, he knew it was the right thing to say.

Nobody spoke after that, until a too-familiar voice blasted through the comms.

_"It's not over yet." _Nick Fury deadpanned. Tony could imagine him now, all frowny and official while he kept turning like an idiot to see both the screens in front of him.

"Uhh... wrong?" Tony said sarcastically. "We won, the bad guys all got exploded... I think the others mysteriously died? Gotta love them hive minds."

_"And now we have a _new _problem." _Fury finished. Tony scowled; he was going to win in a snark-off with that man some day.

"What is it?" Steve asked, in full Captain America mode and just as serious as the boss man in the sky.

_"I don't know, but they're about a hundred feet above you."_

"They?" Tony echoed. The comm link cut off. _Rude._

* * *

About a hundred feet in the air, Hiccup was complaining about his bad luck. He was also falling uncontrollably, but that kind of thing tended not to bother him as much as it should, given his track record for it happening.

"We'll have to find the portal again, but it looks like it just sealed off." he said, looking up at where they'd appeared from. They'd come out of the portal just as it closed, in fact, falling much slower than the strange creature that came before them. The red and gold object had landed some time ago, actually; he didn't have the advantage of wings to slow himself down.

"This isn't the time!" Astrid yelled, reminding Hiccup that his first priority should probably be a safe landing.

"Yeah, sorry..." he said. "Alright. Is everyone okay?" he checked. Everyone gave a confirmation - Hiccup ignored Snotlout's shrieks about how he was about to die - and he mentally checked off the first step of his hastily made plan. "Right. Let's get to the ground - slowly though, and I _mean _slowly," He glared at the twins. "then we can work out what's going on."

After a short glide down to ground level, Hiccup was surprised to find what was quite clearly the aftermath of a battle of some sorts. There were only a few people stood in the middle of the smouldering remains of the strange grey buildings.

Well, _people _was a loose term.

There was a green creature, who was normal if you discounted that and his bulging muscles - they looked like they'd rival even a Viking's. The red and gold creature from before was still there, and its face had opened to reveal a normal looking human. Speaking of normal humans, a man dressed in red and blue stood next to the green man, and beside him was...

"Thor..." Hiccup whispered.

* * *

"Dragons?" Tony said incredulously. He shifted his head, trying not to wince at the pain such a simple action caused, to check if the others were seeing the same thing. Well, Capsicle certainly was. Thor, on the other hand, looked... amused?

"Vikings!" the god said.

Vikings. Well, the dragons made more sense. Wait - Thor was a Norse god, these were Vikings...

"Ha!" Tony laughed. "Cap, they're meeting _god!"_

* * *

The man in red and gold said something - Hiccup wasn't surprised that he didn't understand it - that the dragon riders ignored. _Thor _was there. And he looked pleased to see them.

"Thor?" Hiccup said, trying not to sound too nervous. Behind him, the other riders had noticed the god, and were having mixed reactions. The general consensus seemed to be that this was an appropriate time to faint; Astrid was the only one still awake, and it looked like she would soon be following her friends into oblivion.

"Yes?"

And oh dear gods he was just as amazing as people said.

"You're Thor." Hiccup said dumbly. Thor smiled again. "Actual... god... Thor."

That was enough for the Viking. He slumped over, completely dead to the world.

* * *

The scrawny one on the black dragon said something that Tony didn't understand - he was _so _going to have to learn Norse - and promptly collapsed. Tony found he couldn't really blame him; he'd just met one of his actual gods, after all. The other Vikings had all met the same fate, and their dragons had assumed defensive stances in front of them.

"Hey, Point Break," Tony caught Thor's attention, "What was the little dude saying?"

"He reminded me of my name." Thor grinned. Tony couldn't help but chuckle at that, painful as laughter was.

"So, no names?" Steve checked, once again a downer. "No explanations?"

"No!" Thor seemed positively jovial, as usual, "The dragons could tell me though."

Lucky gods and their all-speak.

_"What's going on down there?" _Fury all but shouted into the comms.

"We've found some Vikings. What should we do with them?"

_"Bring them to your tower, Stark. I'll come to you."_

Another click sounded, and the Avengers were on their own.

"Okay, this, and _then _we get shawarma?"

* * *

After regrouping with Hawkeye and Widow, scaring Loki a bit and letting the SHIELD goons cart him off to locations unknown, the Avengers finally had a chance to tend to their Norse guests. A quick translation program installed in JARVIS and a few beds pushed into one room were all it took to prepare for the small group. The dragons were happy to follow and stayed calm after Thor had a quick chat with them, and now all there was to do was wait.

They weren't there for long before the little dude - the black dragon had been calling him 'Hiccup', of all things - started to stir. He woke up easily, and soon calmed down after he scanned his surroundings a bit.

_"Where am I?"_

JARVIS gave a quick translation that made the Viking jump, and Steve answered: "Stark Tower. It's a safe place," he added quickly, pointing at Tony, "he owns it."

_"Oh." _Was all the young man could come up with after JARVIS translated for him.

"Who are you?" Steve took the lead instead.

_"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." _the Viking said, with a slight smile, _"Bad names are supposed to protect us from evil spirits." _he explained.

_"These guys are Astrid, Eret, Snotlout, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut." _Hiccup continued. Tony noticed the way he grouped two of the names together - twins, perhaps? - _"And... where's Toothless?"_

"Toothless?" Steve frowned. "There weren't any other people there..."

_"No, he's a dragon." _Hiccup explained, _"And my best friend."_

Best friends with a dragon? Damn, Tony wasn't sure whether he should feel jealous of or sorry for the guy.

"They're in the other room, with Thor." Steve explained calmly. Hiccup visibly relaxed at that, though he still looked a bit tense.

"Are the Vikings awake yet?" Black Widow asked, popping her head round the door. She frowned slightly toward the ceiling as JARVIS started translating her speech. "Fury's here; he wants to speak with someone."

"You up for it, kid?" Steve checked.

Hiccup scoffed. _"I can talk; I'm not the chief for nothing."_

_Chief? _Tony thought, giving the Viking an appraising look. _Doesn't look like one._

* * *

Steve stayed in the other room to wait for the others to wake up, while Tony took Hiccup through to talk to Fury. He soon saw the chief in the boy; he wasn't intimidated by Fury's commanding speech or posture - in fact, he looked quite used to being around people much more strong than the director.

"I am Nick Fury, director of the Strategic Homeland -"

_"That's great and all, but I'm more interested in your plans," _Hiccup said impatiently. _"Do you have dragons here, or am I going to have to demonstrate?"_

"A demonstration would be ideal." Fury snapped. Tony sniggered, revelling in the knowledge that Hiccup had managed to make unflappable director feel put out. _You're doing great, kid._

_"Okay. Toothless?"_

Tony stopped laughing - it wasn't because Fury was glaring at him, honest! - and paid more attention to the black dragon walking over to Hiccup. He was the smallest of the group, but by no means the least threatening. Part of his wing was a different colour to the rest, a bright red made of a clearly different fabric. What had caused that?

_"What do you want to know?" _Hiccup asked politely.

"Are they dangerous?" Fury asked, subtle as ever as he glared at the dragon in obvious mistrust. Toothless glared right back, baring his fangs to the man. _I thought he'd be... well... Toothless._

_"Of course," _Hiccup said, _"But they're good; they won't harm you unless you harm them. Or me; they're fiercely protective."_

Fury nodded. Tony used his momentary pause to jump in with a question of his own: "So they fly? And breathe fire?"

Hiccup laughed. He turned and said something to the dragon, which JARVIS didn't translate.

"Not telling us that bit, J?" Tony asked, frowning up at the ceiling.

"That was not a language in my database, sir." Jarvis explained.

_"Oh, sorry. That was Dragonese." _Hiccup explained. _"I was warning Toothless not to demonstrate that just yet. But yes, he can fly and shoot plasma blasts."_

"Cool!" Tony grinned. "Can I try?"

Hiccup answered by walking over to Toothless and hopping on. The dragon padded over to Tony, and Hiccup extended an arm out. _"Hop on." _he invited.

Tony, giddy with childish excitement, grabbed Hiccup's hand and practically jumped onto Toothless's back, injuries and tiredness be damned. Clint rolled his eyes at the show of maturity.

"Shut up. You're just jealous you didn't ask first, Legolas."

Clint muttered something obscene about where Tony could shove his statement, which JARVIS didn't translate. Tony laughed and blew a very mature raspberry before he had to grab onto Hiccup's back as the dragon took off.

"A little warning next time!" he yelled. Hiccup laughed at the response, saying something in Norse that was once again not understood, now that they were out of reach of the tower. It was a good thing that most of the glass had shattered during the battle, Tony realised, as neither dragon nor Viking appeared to have even considered to check the windows. _Maybe they didn't have glass? _Tony shuddered at the thought of such a primitive lack of technology.

Speaking of technology, Tony found himself more interested in the gear system by Hiccup's feet than the actual sensation of flight - it _was _an amazing feeling, and _dragons, _but... _technology -_ which looked quite advanced for a civilisation that had yet to discover glass.

"You make that?" he asked, pointing at the contraption. As he did. he realised for the first time that one of the Viking's legs was missing - how he'd missed that, he'd never know.

Hiccup followed Tony's gaze and nodded, guessing what he was asking. He opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it.

He was just starting to enjoy the little flight when a slight buzz in his ear reminded him of the comms unit he'd had forced onto him back on the helicarrier. He sighed slightly as he realised why it was back online, and Hiccup slowed down accordingly.

_"Get your ass back here Stark."_ Fury demanded. "_Put your little friend on here and get that computer of yours to tell him what's happening."_

"He's not a computer." Tony corrected impulsively. "He's an AI, or more -"

_"I don't care if he's a talking _monkey_; get back here _now_."_

"Fine," Tony sighed. He couldn't help but add a quiet "Popeye."

_"What did you call me?"_

"Nothing!"

* * *

**That was pretty fun to write. I think I might make this into a full story at some point. If I did, it would be after I finish this fic. Speaking of which: I've decided that this will have no more than 100 chapters. I probably won't end it any sooner than that, but I might. Until then, expect (almost) daily updates.**


	51. Chapter 51

**A/n: This is clafaire's idea. Well, it's a bit different from the actual request, but I kinda misread it and didn't realise it until I'd already written over 1000 words of it, so... whoops.**

**Slightly-more-important-than-my-ramblings Note: I think this is gonna end on chapter 75 because round numbers, so that means 24 chapters after this. I'll warn you about it later, when it gets to the point that I have enough requests to make it up to the end.**

**Also, to the guest: I'm not continuing it into this chapter; I'm making it into a full story at some point (possibly this month).**

* * *

When Hiccup woke up that morning, he had a pounding headache. After discovering his cough and subsequent sore throat, Hiccup decided that any effort he put into the day wasn't going to be worth it, and promptly went back to sleep.

Toothless, after waking up and deciding he wanted to go on a morning flight, had other ideas about how Hiccup should be spending his time.

_'Flying.' _Toothless said, loud enough to wake Hiccup, as he jumped around the room. _'Let's go!'_

_'No...' _Hiccup mumbled, _'Go 'way.'_

_'But _flying!' Toothless insisted.

_'But headache,' _countered Hiccup.

As soon as the complaint left his lips, Toothless was by his side and staring at him in concern.

_'Are you okay?' _he asked, nosing his friend slightly.

Hiccup waved off his concerns. "'M fine, just wanna sleep."

_'Now you're not even speaking Dragonese...' _Toothless noted. _'Stay here; I'll go get Astrid!'_

And before Hiccup could complain, Toothless sped off.

Hiccup stayed in bed while Toothless went to get Astrid. Not that he would've been able to go anywhere; he had the feeling that trying to get up wouldn't end well. Instead, he occupied his time with trying to alleviate his headache, something which was easier said than done. Since simply massaging circles into his forehead was yielding no results, Hiccup gave up and allowed himself to drift back off to sleep.

* * *

Astrid's wake up call was the usual one: a dragon landing heavily on her roof. She smiled as she tossed the covers back and quickly got ready, knowing that it was Toothless who'd rattled her house.

"Coming!" she called, yanking the door open and rushing out. "Hey Hiccup, Toothless." she greeted. When she saw who was _actually _on her roof, she frowned. "Toothless? Where's Hiccup?"

_'Got a headache.' _Toothless explained shortly. _'Thought you could help.'_

Astrid frowned. She could _try, _but she was no Gothi. "Shouldn't you get an actual healer?"

_'It's not that bad...' _Toothless assured, though he didn't look certain of that.

Astrid shook her head. "Fine; I'll come."

* * *

"Hiccup?"

"Mmm..." Hiccup hummed slowly, opening his eyes with the same speed to see a blurry pink and yellow blob in front of him. The blob said a few more words, but he wasn't listening to them.

"It's Astrid." the blob said. Hiccup frowned; he didn't remember Astrid being all smudged and blobby. He told her as such, and she laughed.

"Go back to sleep," she told him, "Toothless is running the village."

Hiccup laughed at that, imagining people trying to understand Toothless's roars, before the Astrid-blob started stroking his hair and was lulled back to sleep.

* * *

"I don't get it," Snotlout admitted as he frowned at the dragons, "Why don't we just take over for him?"

"Because..." Tuffnut started smugly, "Because... uh, why _aren't _we doing that?"

Fishlegs sighed, deeply regretting letting the twins attend the meeting. He reminded himself that they'd complain for weeks otherwise as he explained: "Because Toothless is the alpha, so he's used to leading. It's just that quite a few Vikings haven't bothered leaning Dragonese past the first few basic sentences."

"You can _learn _Dragonese?" Tuffnut realised, awed, "Whoa, that's _awesome!"_

"And some of us haven't learnt it at all, apparently," Fishlegs continued, frowning at the twins. "Anyway, _that's _why we're acting as translators."

"Why _you're _acting as translators," Snotlout corrected, making a swooping gesture towards Fishlegs, Eret and Valka. "I only know how to say 'fear me, the amazing Snotlout!'"

Fishlegs sniggered at Snotlout's grand announcement. He knew for a fact that Hookfang had given him a dodgy translation; when Snotlout thought he was saying 'fear me, the amazing Snotlout', he was actually saying 'I'm an idiot; kick me'. He still hadn't worked out the reason why dragons kept kicking him.

Snotlout didn't notice the humour though, so Hookfang's joke was secure. He and the twins left then, realising that there was nothing they could actually do to help.

_'So, Toothless.' _Fishlegs started, hoping his pronunciation had been right, _'What first?'_

* * *

Astrid was officially bored. Though she'd been worried at first, seeing Hiccup with a cough and a headache and a high temperature, she'd soon got over the worry after calling for Gothi.

Gothi had turned up, took one look at the bedridden chief, and left. About ten minutes later - ten minutes which Astrid spent being very confused and not quite sure whether to panic or not - the elder returned, with a bunch of medicines and a few instructions. When she left that time, she didn't come back.

Astrid wasn't sure what to make of it.

But, once she'd decided that Gothi's indifference meant that it was probably just a cold, she quickly ran out of patience. She'd followed the instructions, forced Hiccup to take the medicine, so why wasn't he better yet?

Of course, the rational part of her mind reminded her that illnesses took a while to recover from, even if it _was _just a cold, but the bored part of her mind wasn't listening.

"I swear," she said to herself, "If Toothless is having a better time than me..."

* * *

Toothless was having a better time than Astrid. Of course, he didn't _know _that, but he was.

Apparently, Vikings were more inclined to listen to orders that came from the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.

Who knew?

Toothless grinned as he took a dive, coming out of the water with a bunch of fish in his jaws. He was still worried about Hiccup, but he trusted Astrid to care for him. Better than he could, anyway, as a dragon with as much grace as a clumsy kitten when on land.

Thank the gods he was more elegant in the air, then.

Toothless ate the fish whole and dived for another bunch before heading back to Berk. He decided to pop in and visit Hiccup when he got back, so long as nobody had managed to burn the village down during his absence.

He frowned; with the twins, that was actually quite likely. He sped up a bit, just in case.

* * *

Hiccup woke the next day feeling much better than he had the last time he'd been shaken awake by Astrid. And he'd managed to wake up of his own accord, which he considered quite the achievement. Perhaps Astrid wouldn't force some terrible medicine down his throat this time...

He took a quick look around the room to make sure that his girlfriend wasn't hiding in some corner of the room with the bottle and spoon ready and relaxed once he realised that no, he wasn't going to be force-fed anything.

Toothless wasn't in the room either though, which confused Hiccup a bit. He was almost certain it was the morning now, so the night fury should be occupying his usual space. Odd.

The reason behind the two absences was soon explained as Astrid's head popped round the door.

"Hi Hiccup," she said quietly, "You feeling better?"

"Yeah," he said. "Thanks."

Astrid smiled. "Wasn't going to leave you to Toothless's 'treatments', was I?"

Hiccup laughed, "No, guess not. Speaking of, where _is _Toothless?"

In answer, Toothless shoved Astrid fully into the room so that he could stand in the door frame.

_'Hey bud!' _Hiccup greeted, _'Burn the village down while I was asleep?'_

_'Well...' _Toothless joked. _'Nope everything's fine. Did you know that the twins didn't even know that Dragonese could be taught?'_

_'They... but...' _Hiccup frowned; he'd explained the language to them himself. _'No, you know what, I'm not even surprised.'_


	52. Chapter 52

**A/n: Sorry for the lack of updates. Real life keeps getting in the way, inconvenient little poo stick as it is, but I'm back with another chapter now! This is one of Emerald's ideas.**

* * *

Finding new, interesting objects while on patrol was nothing new. Even finding new types of eggs had happened before, though it was rarer and never seemed to end well (at least, where the twins were involved). So Fishlegs wasn't too amazed to discover a new dragon egg, and he knew just what to do with it.

Unfortunately for Hiccup, that meant that he was soon to have a new hatchling to deal with. Well, if Fishlegs could _find _Hiccup before the egg hatched. And, he realised, looking down at the occasionally twitching egg, that had a high chance of not happening.

After the egg started to show signs of cracking, Fishlegs had no choice but to take matters into his own hands. Silently cursing Hiccup's ability to drop off the edge of the Earth when he was needed, Fishlegs hefted the egg - it was quite heavy, heavier than any other egg he'd carried - and plopped it into the nearest well. Wells were increasingly used to hatch eggs, given their tendency to blow up and Berk's newfound love for having the same set of buildings for more than a month.

The egg hatched as soon as it started to sink, and the baby dragon that emerged from it floated to the surface.

It looked quite a bit like a zippleback, with two heads, but had a more dark colour scheme of an almost black, reddy-purple that would no doubt contribute to its species name.

"Hello," Fishlegs said softly, plucking the new dragon from the water and cradling it softly. The dragon nuzzled closer to him in response, and Fishlegs grinned.

* * *

Meatlug frowned. She was one of the many who laughed at Toothless when Hiccup came home with yet another baby dragon - the night fury's pouting jealousy was truly a sight to behold - but she was starting to rethink how quick she was to ridicule him for it. It was, as it turned out, very difficult to _not _get jealous when your rider started to ignore you in favour of tending to the younger dragon that had suddenly invaded your home.

_'Come on, let's go play!' _Meatlug tempted, holding a rock and trying to wave it a little. Fishlegs shushed her instead of responding, and Meatlug huffed. No hatchling was going to keep her from her rider!

_'Come _on!' she said again, more forcefully, tugging on Fishlegs' clothes this time.

"Not now," the young Viking responded, pulling away from the gronckle's grip. "I'm busy."

Meatlug huffed again. She was well aware that she was sulking, and probably looked ridiculous, but she wanted to have some _attention! _Well, if he wasn't going to give it to her willingly, she'd force it out of him. With that in mind, Meatlug turned round, growled back at the baby dragon for good measure, and stalked out of the room.

* * *

"How about... deadly shadow?" Fishlegs asked. The dragon in his arms didn't respond. "Yes, that's perfect!" the Viking took the non-response in his stride with the yell, and he wrote the name down proudly so that he wouldn't forget it. Now, to tell Hiccup of his discovery, and leave the small dragon in his care.

Or perhaps not. Fishlegs had bonded well with the deadly shadow, and he thought that it would make a great addition to his family.

"Come say hello, Meatlug!" Fishlegs encouraged, looking behind him for the first time in an hour to discover that his other dragon had disappeared. "Meatlug?"

* * *

Half an hour of frantic searching later, Meatlug was discovered, in one of her favourite hiding spots. There was just enough room for Fishlegs to crawl in beside her, so he left the hatchling in Hiccup's capable hands - he'd finally found the chief, who'd apparently been hiding Toothless from a group of rather affectionate females - and scooted in.

"What's wrong?" he prompted.

_'That baby dragon.' _Meatlug practically spat. _'You only have time for _it, _now.'_

"Oh." So, it was a case of jealousy. "You know that I'm your best friend though!" Fishlegs reminded, "And you'll always be my favourite. Babies just need more attention."

Meatlug took a moment to consider that. _'Okay...' _she said reluctantly. _'But you have to play with me still.'_

"Of course! You up for a round of sheep toss?"


	53. Chapter 53

**A/n: This is an idea sent via pm by TNTkinetic and written by me at that time in the morning where you don't remember any of it. Welp, have it anyway.**

* * *

Of all the things Hiccup had expected to be faced with that day, he could honestly say that this wasn't one of them.

"A shark?" he said, borderline incredulous, "You face fire breathing, acid spitting, _island eating _dragons every day, but a _shark _causes you problems?"

"Yes." came the typically blunt reply.

"Alvin the Treacherous? Trouble with a -"

"I already said yes!" Alvin snapped. "I wouldn't have come to you unless I was desperate, and you know it!"

Hiccup _did _know it. Alvin hardly ever visited Berk, and his arrival was never to announce a new dragon species or have a nice chat. "Okay," he said, calming down slightly, "When you say shark, you mean..."

"A massive shark!" Alvin growled. "It's killed half my men, and I'm not letting it kill any more."

"Why don't you just... kill it?"

"I can't. When I say massive, I mean bigger than that bewilderbeast everyone's been harping on about."

Hiccup seriously doubted that, but the comparison did put things into perspective. "Right. Me and Toothless will check it out; give me the general location and we'll find it."

* * *

The shark wasn't that hard to find. It was just off Outcast Island's south coast, as promised, and was as big as it had been described.

"Not as big as the bewilderbeast..." Hiccup insisted quietly, pressing himself as close as he could to Toothless to allow for maximum stealth.

The water surrounding the shark was quiet, too quiet, and Hiccup had a pretty good idea why.

_'Okay. Let's just sit tight for a while, see if we can work out any weak - oh,' _he stopped, squinting down. _'Never mind, there's a dragon down there. Off we go, then.'_

Toothless nodded, and the two dived down to rescue whatever unfortunate dragon was about to cross paths with the deadly shark. It was a seashocker, who already looked worse for wear. A quick plasma blast to the shark's side distracted it enough to let the tidal class dragon make its escape, and the battle was officially rushed into.

The shark was at a disadvantage from the start, having no power of flight and already taken a hit to the side. It did have exceptional strength and speed, as well as stamina, so it managed to endure the first hit enough to dodge the barrage that followed. After a minute of firing and missing, it became apparent that long range attacks just weren't quite going to cut it.

_'Switch to automatic,' _Hiccup ordered. Toothless let out a concerned whine as he complied, knowing Hiccup well enough to see where the action was going, and fearing the worst that could happen from the new plan. _'It'll be _fine,' Hiccup assured before he jumped, pulling out his wings and sword as he flew overhead.

The shark had its first encounter with zippleback gas, soon followed by fire after a quick spark. Once the flame cleared, Hiccup took advantage of the shark's distraction to land on it, standing on its back and jamming the flaming sword into it.

"Take that!" Hiccup yelled, smiling in satisfaction as the shark started to sink. "Little help?" he called to Toothless, who responded with a few quick plasma blasts to finish it off before swooping in to rescue Hiccup.

"That wasn't so hard." Hiccup noted. Though, as a pair who'd managed to take down two alpha dragons by now, it was difficult to find something they classed as 'hard'. "Time to tell Alvin to go home."


	54. Chapter 54

**A/n: I think this is the last of Emerald's ideas...**

* * *

It was Eret's turn to patrol that morning. If it hadn't been, the whole fiasco may have been easily avoided.

It wasn't his fault; he'd never experienced him, had never even met the guy. If he had, he would never have allowed Mildew to set foot on Berk.

He was in a small boat, looked innocent enough, and knew enough of the members of the tribe for Eret to believe his claims that he was an old friend.

Nobody in the village looked pleased to see him - Eret's first clue that he was being led on - least of all the chief.

"What are you doing here?" Hiccup demanded.

"Is that how you talk to your old friend?" Mildew said smoothly. "I want to come back; Outcast life really doesn't suit me."

"Too bad," Hiccup deadpanned, "We already replaced your house."

He looked behind him to the top of the hill, where a lone house had once stood. There was now a tattered pile of rubble, the only part of the village that was never rebuilt. A sign in front had been placed there at some point, reading: "Mildew's house. Good riddance."

"I was thinking I could live closer to the village," Mildew continued, undeterred, "So I could build better relations with people."

It made sense, and was a good reason. Most people were warming up to the idea, much to Hiccup's annoyance, and he found that he couldn't disagree with them. He was beginning to understand all the times Stoick had nearly banned dragons; it was difficult to persuade a crowd of Vikings once they got riled up and opinionated.

"Fine." Hiccup sighed. "You can stay in my house, until we build a new one for you."

Although Hiccup had done it to restrict Mildew and check his actions in the village, it appeared as though the new turn of events was exactly what he wanted.

* * *

For the first few days, nothing of note happened. Hiccup still didn't trust Mildew, not by a long shot, but it was clear that he wasn't going to try something rash. He was going to be sneaky about it.

Hiccup would just have to be sneakier.

The first sign that something was afoot was the fourth night of Mildew's stay. Hiccup was lying in bed, kept up again by his increasing paranoia, when he heard a clatter from the floor below. He made a deliberate thumping sound in response, and the quiet resumed.

Mildew didn't mention anything the next morning, and Hiccup couldn't see anything out of the ordinary downstairs.

The clattering returned again a few nights later, and Hiccup decided to try and find out what it was that time. He crept downstairs, stealthily as he could manage with a metal leg, and found a terrible terror nosing around in his kitchen. Mildew was nowhere to be found.

The next morning brought a sleep deprived Hiccup, and a very smug Mildew. Irritated that he still hadn't figured the man's plan out, Hiccup remained in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

During the second week of Mildew's stay, Hiccup finally found out what the former Berkian was doing.

The kitchen clatters became a nightly occurrence, but the culprit appeared to be a terror each time. Nothing odd was happening in the village for Hiccup to suspect Mildew of, so he continued being quietly curious.

Then, dragons started getting the symptoms of eel pox. At first it was inconsequential, they got it sorted quickly and no lasting damage was dealt. Soon there were more cases, and it became the sheer number that caused the most problems. It was hard to control ten dragons at once.

Even stranger, not a single one of the dragons could remember consuming any eels. At first Hiccup chalked it down to dragons' faulty memories, but when Toothless fell victim, he knew that someone was feeding the dragons eels.

He knew who it was, he just didn't know _how _they were doing it.

The answer came in the form of the terrible terrors. During Hiccup's nightly removal of the small dragons from his cooking space, he noticed a pile of fish in a basket. Each fish had been cut open, and an eel lay beside them, slightly chopped up and left hastily in the same basket.

_Putting eels inside the fish... _Hiccup realised.

Well, now he had the how. He just needed the proof that it was Mildew.

That part was easier than Hiccup expected, given his lack of ability to successfully pin anything on the unpleasant Viking in the past. Thankfully, being chief meant that people were more willing to listen to his logic, and most agreed that the only person with access to Hiccup's kitchen - no one in their right mind would consider blaming the dragon's best friend for any of this - was Mildew.

It took Hiccup great joy to re-banish the old man, and even greater joy to hear the resounding applause as the villagers saw the back of him.

Now all he had to do was find the idiot that let Mildew onto Berk in the first place.


	55. Chapter 55

**A/n: This is movielover48's idea. It's also the first chapter not loaded from my laptop. This is, of course, very interesting news that you are all amazed to hear.**

* * *

Thunder boomed overhead, followed instantly by a blue flash. The electric colour came from a dragon's blast rather than lightning, but the next flash was due to the other force of nature.

Hiccup yelled in exhilaration as Toothless dived through the storm clouds. He was glad he hadn't listened to Astrid's warning; she made a good point, but nothing came close to the feeling of dodging lightning in an otherwise pitch black sky while the rain pounded on your back.

"Just one more dive and we'll go back," Hiccup told Toothless. The equally thrill-seeking dragon nodded in agreement, slightly saddened to have his fun cut short but not wanting to stay out for too long lest Hiccup catch a cold.

With one last quick dip through the clouds - the water was no problem by now, given that they were already soaked to the bone - the pair set their course to the village. The storm was one just above Berk, so the journey didn't take too long.

Hiccup landed just in front of Astrid's open door. "See, told you it'd be fine," he said, slightly smugly. Astrid opened her mouth to reply, but didn't get that far.

A flash across the sky not previously announced by the customary clap of thunder interrupted her. The light was blinding, and she stumbled back into her doorframe. When the dark spots in her vision finally faded, she looked back out into the rain to see two slumped figures on the floor.

"Hiccup!"

* * *

Astrid sat in wait of Hiccup and Toothless's return to consciousness. She'd dragged the two inside as soon as she calmed down, then gone off to fetch something to dry them with.

When she came back, she was confronted with a strange sight. She was certain that the second night fury - which had appeared without explanation - was Hiccup; it had a missing leg, and Hiccup's own modified prosthetic lay on the floor beside it.

The storm cleared not long after, and Astrid went out to explain the situation to Valka.

"Valka?" Astrid said, popping her head around the door.

"Yes?" Luckily, she was awake and waiting at the table already.

"It's about Hiccup," Astrid started. Valka frowned in concern and ushered the younger Viking to the table to let her tell her tale.

* * *

Hiccup woke with a start. It confused him; he had no idea why he jerked up with such force, or why he was breathing so heavily. It was because he was sorting out his strange panic - had he had a nightmare? - that it took so long for him to notice his other, slightly more pressing problem.

'_I'm a night fury.' _he deadpanned, only realising because he'd lifted a hand - now a paw - to rub his eyes. It wasn't his first time as a dragon, but it _was _the first time Toothless had also been one. And he was - Hiccup had checked that first, assuming it had just been a simple mind swap.

Ah, what a strange life he led.

'Toothless!' Hiccup hissed, glad that he already knew Dragonese - he mightn't have been able to understand himself otherwise - and hit his friend lightly.

'_What?'_ the night fury by birth asked slowly, taking great effort in peeling his eyes open.

'_I'm a night fury.'_

'_No...' _Toothless mumbled, 'I'm_ a night fury. You're a... night fury?'_

'_Told you.'_ Hiccup smirked. _'Don't know why though. It's really weird...'_

'_You got that right...' _Toothless said. _'But... how?'_

'_No idea. All I remember is... Actually, I don't remember anything.'_

"Being hit by lightning can do that to you."

Hiccup turned round to face the person who'd spoke. _'Astrid?'_ he spluttered, _'When did you get here?'_

"Well, it _is_ my house." Astrid smiled. "Good to see you awake; it's been a few hours. So, you're a night fury now?"

'_Yep. Just my luck. And it seems I can't speak Norse anymore; every time I try to do it, I end up speaking Dragonese.'_

"What if you try to speak Dragonese?"

'_Huh. I'll try...'_ Hiccup said._ 'That work?'_

"Nope." Astrid laughed. "Looks like no one's going to be able to understand you..."

'_Just great...'_ Hiccup complained. _'How am I supposed to be a chief now?'_

'_How do you_ ever _act as chief?' _Toothless asked sarcastically, '_You're always getting into such weird situations.'_

'_Well, I'm sure I'll manage it. Can't be that hard, can it?'_

* * *

'_I jinxed it, didn't I?'_

'_Yep.' _Toothless said, barely concealing his laughter. '_This is great. How did you_ _even_ manage_ this?'_

'This' was complete chaos in the village. The twins had decided that everything Hiccup said was an order to destroy things, and some people had actually been gullible enough to believe them, resulting in the fire that raged over half the village. Others didn't believe Astrid when she said that the new night fury was Hiccup, and they had sent out a search party to look for the 'missing' chief. Only the select few who could understand Dragonese knew what they were supposed to be doing, but there weren't enough of them to make a big difference.

'_Need some help?' _Toothless offered at last, finally getting over his mirth.

'_Just a bit,' _Hiccup responded, voice strained.

'_Okay. Just wait here.'_ Toothless ordered. Hiccup frowned as the dragon flew off - where did he even have to go?

* * *

After hours of clean up work, Hiccup and Toothless slumped to the ground, finished.

'_Thanks,' _Hiccup said gratefully. Toothless had directed the dragons from the nest to help, and they'd managed to get the village back into order. Meanwhile, Astrid was directing the Vikings in Hiccup's stead.

_'Go for a flight?' _Toothless suggested.

_'Yeah!' _Hiccup grinned. '_Good thing I learnt how to last time.'_

The two took off then, and Hiccup was glad to finally get off his feet. Though it was possible to hobble around on three feet, it was much easier to use both of his wings to carry himself around. That, and flying was just plain fun, no matter which part you were playing in the process.

* * *

Hiccup woke the next morning in his own bed. The first thing he checked was his species, and he was equally confused and relieved to discover that he was human once again. While being a dragon was fun, it was much more natural for him to be a human.

He let out a sigh of contentment, pleased to note that it was Norse that he now spoke in. He sat up, ready to start a much easier day of chiefing.

"Wait..."

His leg was still in Astrid's house.


	56. Chapter 56

**A/n: This stems from a suggestion from a guest called Angela. I say stemmed because it was a small suggestion which kinda just carried on and became more than I'd expected. Sorry it took so long to get round to, though.**

* * *

Valka was truly full of interesting ideas. The latest of such was a dragon swap, where riders would exchange dragons for a day.

The dragons were to choose who their rider would be, though Hiccup was allowed to choose a dragon to avoid any fighting. He chose Cloudjumper, partly because the dragon showed no interest in anyone else, and partly because those four wings were simply fascinating.

And so, Hiccup started out the day in a much different manner than the one he was used to. While he usually received a wake up call from Toothless, which generally involved the destruction of at least part of the roof, his morning started with Cloudjumper gently nudging him awake with the hooked end of one of his wings.

_'Good morning,'_ Hiccup greeted tiredly, squinting as sunlight trickled into the room.

_'Are we going flying?'_ Cloudjumper asked formally. He shifted slightly while he waited for the response.

_'Yeah, course we are!'_ Hiccup grinned. Cloudjumper attempted to copy the gesture before moving back to allow Hiccup room to stand up.

_'Okay then, let's go flying.'_

* * *

Flying was a much different experience on Cloudjumper's back. The most noticeable change was the lack of speed, bringing slight disappointment during the gut-lurching drops as the previously wild morning flight became rather tame by comparison.

Then there was the wings, which made up for the excitement factor with the sheer amount of interest Hiccup had for the mechanics of them. They moved in an off beat rhythm, and seemed to hold no real purpose other than looking amazing; Cloudjumper had demonstrated his ability to push the two wing sets together several times, leaving him with - effectively - just two wings.

"What do you use them for?" Hiccup asked, breaking the silence that had spanned several minutes as the two flew level with the sea.

_'Use what for?'_

"The extra wings." Hiccup explained. "They don't seem to make you any faster..."

_'Agility.'_ Cloudjumper explained. _'Like what Toothless has for tight turns, only more obvious_.'

Hiccup snorted at the thought of Toothless's joy in discovering the small flaps along his back. "Well, it's good to know... they do look cool, don't they?"

Cloudjumper nodded. _'I guess so.'_

* * *

After their flight, made much longer due to their constant stops to discuss various aspects of Cloudjumper's flight patterns, the temporary duo landed to cook the fish they'd just caught.

_'Why don't you eat fish raw?'_ Cloudjumper asked.

_'It's gross.'_ Hiccup explained shortly. _'Doesn't Valka cook her food? I bet my reasons would be much the same as hers.'_

_'Actually... no.'_ Cloudjumper said slowly, _'I don't think she does...'_

_'Well, dad_ did _say her cooking sucked...'_ Hiccup reasoned. _'But she eats normally in the hall...'_

Cloudjumper laughed. _'I thought she just wanted to be closer to dragons - she can't cook?'_

_'I wouldn't know; I've never tried her cooking.'_ Hiccup admitted._ 'Don't want to though, Gobber says she has a reputation.'_

The two lapsed into silence for a while, each taking time to eat their meal. Cloudjumper ate in the typical dragon style of all at once, but managed to make it look much more dignified than Toothless's, well, toothless slurping. Hiccup found it odd, especially since the night fury was supposed to be the proud, dignified leader of Berk's dragons. Mind you, Hiccup was supposed to be the proud, dignified leader of Berk's _Vikings._

It was funny how they always managed to mirror each other.

_'How do you think Toothless is doing?'_ Hiccup asked suddenly. The dragon had been very reluctant to leave Hiccup in Cloudjumper's capable claws, no matter how much either of them assured him that it'd be fine. Hiccup half expected the night fury to trail them from a slight distance - he really did want to stop any potential attacks to Hiccup's person, all of which he was sure would come from dragons that wanted him as a temporary rider rather than the one they'd actually got.

That wasn't really a concern though; Toothless had threatened the other dragons so effectively, it would take a true idiot to try and take Hiccup.

_'I'm sure he's fine.'_ Cloudjumper assured. _'Paranoid and on edge, sure, but fine.'_

_'Who did he pick?'_ Hiccup asked. It had been between Astrid and Valka, but Hiccup hadn't had the chance to ask yet.

_'If he got there first, Valka. Otherwise, it's probably Astrid.'_

* * *

Oh, how wrong they were.

_'How did I get stuck with _you?' Toothless groaned.

"This is stupid! How're we supposed to fly one dragon?" Ruffnut complained, squinting and tilting her head towards Toothless as though she expected him to grow an extra head, or split into two dragons. She probably _did._

"You can just go behind me!" Tuffnut decided. He grabbed Toothless's saddle, only to be brought back down by his sister.

"No! _I'm _getting on first!" she insisted, jumping onto Toothless.

_'How about _neither _of you get on, and I go back to Hiccup?' _Toothless suggested sarcastically.

"See, he agrees!" Ruffnut completely misunderstood the night fury.

"You don't even understand Dragonish." Tuffnut countered.

Toothless's complaint of _'It's __Dragon_ese, _you idiot.!' _went unheard.

Being lumped with the twins did come with certain benefits, though. Chiefly, Toothless was too busy being annoyed to start worrying about Hiccup. There was also the fact that he had pretty much been given permission to beat them up if they got too annoying, permission given by Barf and Belch before they went off to find their two - completely different - chosen riders.

_Oh well, _Toothless thought hopefully, _it's only a few more hours..._

* * *

At the end of a truly relaxing day, Hiccup was excited to catch up with Toothless. He had so much to tell him, and he was sure the night fury would have just as many things to tell about his own experience.

He didn't know who Toothless had partnered with, though, so he was surprised, to say the least, when his friend stumbled over, bedraggled and exhausted.

_'What _happened?' Hiccup asked incredulously.

_'The twins.' _Toothless answered. And he refused to give any more information.

_'Oh.' _Hiccup wasn't sure how to react. _'I thought you were with Astrid?'_

_'Meatlug got there first...' _Toothless explained. _'Now let's go home, and never speak of this again...'_

Hiccup frowned; he had been looking forwards to that conversation. _Maybe we should let the Vikings choose the dragons next time..._


	57. Chapter 57

**A/n: Trystrike's suggestion, one which I believe to be rather cute.**

* * *

Hiccup smiled as he opened his eyes. Toothless was on his roof, as usual, banging down on it to catch his rider's attention. The jumping of the impatient dragon was causing another noise, one that Hiccup had been expecting for a while now.

The familiar sound of snow falling from the roof accompanied Toothless's footfalls, signifying the beginning of the year's cold spell.

Even after five years, nearly six now, of dealing with a fake leg, it was still difficult to move around with ice on the ground. Shifting his blankets off his bed and sending a silent prayer to the gods that he wouldn't slip up _immediately _- and another to suggest that maybe he could avoid breaking something, this time? - Hiccup ambled down to greet Toothless.

'_What took you so long?'_ Toothless demanded as Hiccup walked out, _'You_ know _it's the l__ast day before everyone goes to the island!'_

The island. Hiccup internally berated himself for forgetting it; he had promised Toothless that they could spend the whole day with his dragon friends, before they left for their annual egg-laying. Though Berk was fully capable of caring for and hatching dragons en masse, it was something of a tradition for babies to hatch on the island, and Hiccup wasn't about to force them to change just because he wanted them to. Unfortunately, that left Toothless alone for a rather lonely few days each year. Sure, he always had Hiccup, but he had other friends that he missed.

'_Well, let's get going.'_ Hiccup said at last. _'Meatlug first?'_

* * *

Three hours and as many dragons later, the pair arrived outside Astrid's house. The last dragon to talk to was Stormfly, and then the two would have to part ways and resume their duties.

Hiccup opened his mouth to announce himself. He was interrupted - rather predictably - by an explosion, cackling, and an angered cry of "Tuffnut!"

'_Sorry bud,'_ Hiccup apologised,_ 'gotta go deal with whatever that was.'_

And so Hiccup sprinted off, leaving Toothless to talk to Stormfly by himself.

'_You in there?'_ he checked.

'_Oh, hi Toothless.'_ Stormfly greeted, coming out from behind the building. _'Coming to see me off?'_

'_Yeah...'_ Toothless said_. 'Since you'll be busy with your eggs and all...'_

Stormfly looked at Toothless. '_How about...'_ she said slowly_. 'Why don't you come with us?'_

'_What?'_ Toothless asked, taken completely by surprise by the suggestion. '_But I don't have a mate - there aren't any other night furies!'_

'_Doesn't mean you can't tag along._' Now that Stormfly had proposed the idea, she was beginning to realise how good it could be._ 'Hiccup did it before, you know.'_

Toothless_ did _know. He'd always thought it nothing short of miraculous that the Viking had survived the experience, really. He'd never been to the island himself, or been told the ins and outs of hatching eggs there, but he'd always assumed it to be some highly private affair, the type which intruders would not be very well receipted at.

_'Okay,' _he said, sounding a lot more reluctant than he felt. '_I'll ask Hiccup.'_

* * *

Predictably, Hiccup said yes. He hadn't been since the first time, when he was kidnapped by Meatlug, and back then he'd been to busy trying to find Toothless to really appreciate the tradition.

So, when the dragons lifted off after a hearty farewell, Toothless and Hiccup were part of the group. Hiccup had joked that he should make the journey over on Meatlug - "make a tradition out of it!" - but he'd stopped quite quickly after almost being taken seriously.

* * *

Toothless edged closer, wide eyed, to the eggs. It was nearly time to shuffle them into the water, and Stormfly had asked _him _to help.

'_Are you sure?_' he'd asked.

Stormfly had scoffed, assured him it was fine and demonstrated what to do.

'_Hello eggs,_' Toothless said, smiling slightly down at them.

The eggs, naturally, did not respond. They did, however, start to shake - the sign that they were about to hatch. But Stormfly wasn't there - Toothless realised this far too late.

'_Help!_' he called out, looking at the eggs in panic. He knew what to do, but...

He was going to have to do it himself.

With that thought in mind, Toothless rolled the eggs into the water, taking care not to miss any or break any. He slumped in relief when they all disappeared with a small splash, and waited.

It wasn't long before the first nadders swam to the surface. He scooped them out, not sure if they'd be able to do it themselves yet, and set them down gently.

There were only two nadders - as many as there had been eggs, Toothless realised with relief - that sat in front of him. And he'd helped to hatch them. They didn't seem to have noticed him yet; they were far more interested in the pool they'd just emerged from.

'_Oh, they hatched.'_

Toothless swivelled round to see Hiccup, but still no Stormfly.

'_How are they?_' the Viking continued, seemingly unsurprised that Stormfly wasn't present, despite not having seen her leave. He moved over to one and picked it up. It smiled at him.

'_I think they're okay...' _Toothless said uncertainly, regarding the other one with interest. It copied his look, leaning forwards so much that it flopped over.

Hiccup laughed. _'If you go on like that, you'll end up being called Trip,'_ he warned.

'_They like you.'_

'_Stormfly?' _Toothless whirled round again. _When did_ she _get here? 'Oh, we'll leave you_ _now, sorry -'_

'_It's fine.'_ Stormfly laughed._ 'I was about to say, actually, that you should look after them.'_

'_Really?_' Toothless asked, forgetting to respectfully let her take her children back.

'_Yes,' _Stormfly confirmed, laughing at the night fury's eagerness._ 'I think you two would make wonderful parents.'_

Hiccup smiled knowingly, and Toothless began to think that there was perhaps something more to the two baby dragons in his possession than a happy coincidence.


	58. Chapter 58

**A/n: Quite short, one of movielover48's ideas. After this I'll only be taking twelve more requests (first come first served basis) so that I can finish on chapter 75. Just a heads up for then.**

* * *

Hiccup had had enough. He'd been a chief for two weeks - though only working as one for one, after everyone's insistence that he take some time to recover - and in that time, he'd put the village back together, reinstated (and won several) dragon races, sorted out all the dragons into provisional homes, and removed and repurposed all the armour from Drago's dragons.

Yet still people asked for things.

He was beginning to understand why his dad was always so angry; it must've been trying, to say the least, to deal with whiny villagers all day, then have to come home to a sarcastic son who just so happened to be the worst Viking the village had ever seen. But he still managed to be happy to serve. Hiccup, not so much.

"Hiccup!"

_Here we go again._ "Yes?"

"That dragon - Something-claw - it's causing trouble again."

Hiccup stared blankly at the Viking for a second. He was sure that, if he was fully rested and slightly less frazzled, he would be able to recall their name. "Oh." he said intelligently.

"They were setting fires to stuff!" the Viking - Hiccup dubbed them Pesterer One - continued urgently.

"Great."

"I saw the twins running away with a stick a while ago..." Pesterer One finished. "Were you listening?" she asked, noticing Hiccup's glazed expression.

"Sure, Pesterer One," Hiccup replied distractedly, "I'll get onto it..."

He wandered off in the direction of the plume of smoke.

"Pesterer One?" the Viking, whose name was actually Adelaide, muttered confusedly. She shrugged, deciding it was probably better not to know, and rushed off to grab a bucket.

* * *

Two hours of firefighting later - the dragon had been Sharpclaw, a monstrous nightmare who hated both the twins and being poked with sticks - Hiccup slumped down in front of his house.

Toothless came over to him and crooned concernedly, giving Hiccup one of his innocent looks.

"I'm fine, Toothless," Hiccup said, reminding himself that he needed to find a way to understand dragons entirely - just another thing to do. "Just tired."

"You wouldn't be tired if you asked for help."

Hiccup blinked. In his tiredness, he mistook Astrid's voice for Toothless talking. He stared at the dragon in confusion.

"Over here," Astrid sighed, taking Hiccup's face in her hand to move it over to face her. "If you thought Toothless was speaking Norse, you _really _need some help."

"But... Stoick never got help." Hiccup protested, cursing himself that it sounded so weak.

"I'm sure he did when he first started." Astrid offered. "Why don't we ask Gobber?"

* * *

"Stoick?" Gobber laughed heartily, "Yeah, he needed help at first. Wouldn't ask for it, mind - he was just like you: stubborn as anything." Gobber chuckled again, losing himself in memories, "Practically collapsed from exhaustion - that's how we convinced him he needed it."

"See?" Astrid said pointedly. "You can have help."

"But..." Hiccup sighed. "Fine. But what can you help with?"

"Lots of things!" Gobber half-shouted, grabbing Hiccup in a headlock with his hammer arm. "We can help with tasks, sort out arguments, anything you want!" he offered enthusiastically as Hiccup tripped up trying to work his way out of the blacksmith's grip.

"Great," Hiccup said, eyeing the forge door and the impatient dragon waiting on the other side of it. "You do that... I'm going for a flight."

Before anyone could protest, Hiccup ran off and flew away.

"But... you..." Astrid said weakly.

"He certainly took to _that _well," Gobber noted.


	59. Chapter 59

**A/n: Idea from TNTkinetic - via PM. This took absolutely ages to do; every time I tried to save it, the internet cut out. **

* * *

After the parrot fiasco, Hiccup was slightly reluctant to allow Trader Johan back on Berk. He took precaution, just in case of another parrot, by riding out to meet the man, before he could get to the island, to check his boat for annoying birds.

That meant that he had to listen to the latest of the terribly dull tales of 'adventure', but it was a small price to pay for the dragons' wellbeing.

"Hey Johan," Hiccup greeted, landing on the crowded boat. It was full, as usual, of random objects of varying degrees of usefulness. So full, in fact, that there wasn't any room for him to get off Toothless.

"Oh, hi Hiccup!" Johan smiled back. "I found a new sword I'm sure Snotlout would love - nowhere near as good as yours, of course -"

Hiccup stopped listening as the trader's talk turned to flattery. A brightly coloured object in the corner of the boat caught his attention.

"You actually brought another?" Hiccup said incredulously. The object was, as far as he could tell, a parrot.

"Well, yes," Johan said awkwardly. "I trade with a lot of people, you see, and this place in the south really likes them, so I said I'd bring them another, and it was on the way to here..."

Hiccup tuned out again. _A parrot? Really?_ he thought incredulously.

"Well make sure it stays on the ship," Hiccup warned. With a quick nudge of his leg, Toothless started hovering above the boat. "See you soon."

* * *

'Soon' turned out to be 'in a few hours' - the wind was too calm to push the boat forwards much, and Johan had no dragon assistance. Johan arrived, started talking up his goods to the Vikings, and tactfully didn't mention the parrot mixed in with his cargo.

The twins - perceptive at all the wrong moments - noticed that he was hiding something and decided to investigate.

"Check this out!" Tuffnut called, quite quietly, for him, to his sister.

"Cool! A parrot!" Ruffnut grinned. "Make it say something!"

"Uhh... Ruffnut smells."

"..."

"Why isn't it talking?" Ruffnut demanded, thumping her brother hard enough to knock him over.

"Look at its mouth!" Tuffnut called from the floor. "It's all weird!"

"Yeah!" Ruffnut agreed. She took the rope covering the parrot's beak and dropped it. "Now say Tuffnut smells!"

"No, Ruffnut smells!"

"Tuffnut!"

"Ruffnut!"

"Tuffnut!"

"Ruffnut!"

"Smells! Smells!" the parrot squawked. It ruffled its feathers slightly then flew off, nimbly avoiding the twins' grasp as they lunged for it. Their missing resulted in them colliding and landing back on the floor.

"What's going on in here?" Johan asked, choosing that moment to pop his head round the door.

"Uhh..." the twins stared at each other.

"She did it!"

"He did it!"

"Hey!"

* * *

It was typical. Absolutely typical, Hiccup decided. Of course the parrot would get out. Of course it would go straight for the nest. Of course that was where all the sanctuary dragons were.

"Just my luck..." he muttered. It was unlikely, of course, that the parrot would even be able to taunt the dragons - he'd checked; the twins had only tried to use petty insults on each other - but he knew that the universe would find a way for it to happen. He was taking Toothless along for moral support, but he and the dragon had split up to search for the parrot.

'Seen a parrot round here?' Hiccup asked the first dragon he came across. It was Lump.

'If you mean the red beast that's been insulting everyone, then yes.'

'Oh.' Hiccup said. 'Oh. Um... Sorry about that. It's a parrot - Trader Johan - the guy with the boat - he brought it here. It... hasn't been saying anything _too_ bad, has it?'

'Depends how you define bad. Does telling Gruff how wonderful the sky looks today and how great it is to be able to appreciate it count as bad?'

Hiccup grimaced. Gruff was particularly sensitive of his lost sight; if someone wasn't tactful about describing views in his presence, chances were it wouldn't end well. _How did it even say all that?_

'I'll go talk to him.' Hiccup decided.

* * *

Hiccup found Gruff a little deeper in the cave, cowering away from the parrot. He scared it off pretty quickly with his sword, hoping that it would bump into Toothless before any other dragons.

'_You okay?'_

'_N...no...'_ Gruff sniffled. He was always one to be a tad melodramatic, though Hiccup was inclined to play along with it - the parrot had offended him pretty badly, from what he'd been told.

'_The parrot?'_ he guessed, gesturing to where the bird had just flown off before catching himself._ 'Whatever it said, don't listen. It... well, I don't know how it managed to -'_

'_I know what a parrot is!' _Gruff snapped. Hiccup fought the urge to sigh; the dragon was easily angered when upset. _'It wouldn't have said that unless someone else did!'_

'_Um...'_ Hiccup said helplessly. '_It might've picked it up somewhere else - it was with Trader Johan, who knows where it went before it came here?'_

Gruff shook his head, inconsolable. Hiccup lost the battle against sighing.

_'Well, I'm off to find it and put a stop to this... Talk to Lump, if I can't help.' _he said shortly, aware that he was being insensitive but far too annoyed to care anymore. Gruff, for his part, understood that Hiccup was acting out of irritation, and let the matter drop.

* * *

It took more than an hour to find the parrot and take it back to Johan. It was easy enough to track - just follow the line of insulted dragons / Vikings - but hard to catch up to.

The question of where the dragon was getting its insults still remained, but Hiccup was just glad to be seeing the back of the bird.

"Have it back," Hiccup said, forcing the parrot into Johan's arms. The trader spluttered an awkward apology, and started backing onto his boat. The parrot decided to make one last break for it while Johan was busy watching where he was going.

'_Oh no you don't,'_ Toothless muttered, shooting a quick plasma blast. The parrot was instantly incinerated. Hiccup couldn't say that he was too upset, really.

"Would you look at that," Hiccup said casually, nodding towards the pile of ash and singed feathers. "It's dead. What a shame."

"But..." Johan stared at the pile, incredulous, "I had to..."

"Yes, well I'm sure there'll be other parrots." Hiccup wasn't much sympathetic. "But there won't be any on Berk..."

He turned to the gathered villagers, who had been minding their own business and looking for something to buy when the plasma blast was fired. "Parrots are banned on Berk!" he yelled to them. They looked at him, bemused. Someone opened their mouth. "No questions!" he snapped before they could speak. "No more parrots!"

The Vikings of Berk just looked at Hiccup for a moment. Chalking it up to another of his crazy escapades, they shook their heads, tutted, and resumed life as normal.


	60. Chapter 60

**A/n: movielover48's request - a fun idea to revisit. I haven't had many suggestions lately - I only have two left. So... ideas, anyone?**

* * *

After the success of the dragon swap (for all but Toothless), Hiccup decided to hold another one. He waited a month to do so - he was busy enough without a massive event to organise every week - and spent most of that time thinking of improvements to make.

He decided that, for a bit of variety, the Vikings would have the say this time. That meant that Toothless was the one who needed to go to someone before an argument broke out, so he ended up with Valka.

Hiccup, as chief, was sure that he'd end up with whichever dragon he chose first, though he wasn't sure who that should be.

_Maybe Cloudjumper again,_ he mused. The dragon had been fun to spend time with, but he wanted to spend time with someone new.

'_Why don't you just go with Cloudjumper?' _Toothless suggested._ 'Then it'll be a proper_ _swap.'_

'_Yeah.'_ Hiccup decided._ 'I'll go with Cloudjumper.'_

* * *

The day of the swap soon approached, and the Vikings all walked up to their chosen dragons. After a few minor skirmishes - two Vikings went for the same zippleback, and it took them a while to realise that they could just take a head each - they were ready.

"Does everyone have a dragon?" Hiccup checked. The crowd murmured a confirmation, and he nodded. "Then the second dragon swap can begin!"

The Vikings cheered, and mounted their new dragons. There was a brief moment of uncoordinated confusion as everyone tried to work out how to stay on a different dragon - or how to fly with a different rider - and then they were off.

'_You and me again, huh.'_ Hiccup said to Cloudjumper, rubbing the four-winged dragon's head.

'_Yep,' _Cloudjumper agreed. _'What should we do?'_

* * *

'_I'm not sure this is a good idea.'_

'_Oh, you sound just like Toothless!' _Hiccup shook his head. '_Relax! It'll be fine; I've_ _done it loads of times before.'_

'_Really?' _Cloudjumper asked sceptically. He glanced around at the latest of Hiccup's inventions; the Viking had briefly explained what it was supposed to do, and it didn't sound safe even if it were to work.

'_Well, stuff like it,'_ Hiccup admitted. He looked over at his latest creation - something he hoped would allow him to come even closer to the sensation of flight - and smiled. '_Don't know what it'll do 'till we try it.'_

_'I suppose so...' _Cloudjumper said cautiously. He allowed Hiccup to attach the straps and buckles to him, frowning while the Viking worked. '_What does it do, really?'_

'_I already said!'_ Hiccup pointed out._ 'It's a harness - it's supposed to keep me in the air while you fly, only below you instead of on your back.'_

'_And what about this bit?'_ Cloudjumper prodded a loose bit of fabric with his wing.

'_It was a prototype, of sorts, for something else.' _Hiccup told him. _'It looks a bit weird_, _doesn't it?'_

'It' was a small diamond shape, attached to some rope. It didn't look particularly sturdy to Cloudjumper, which didn't give him hope for the upcoming trial.

'_Does it work?'_

'_Ah, no,' _Hiccup admitted._ 'It... I'll show you,' _he decided. He grabbed the rope and the fabric, tossing the latter out into the wind. A few second of free fall later, it jerked upward with the wind, kept mostly in place by the rope holding it back.

_'Can I try?'_ Cloudjumper asked, looking at the invention giddily. Hiccup nodded and passed it over, knowing from the look on the dragon's face that he wouldn't be resuming his test for some time.

_Ah well, I'm sure I'll convince Toothless eventually._

* * *

'_Ah, this is_ much _better than last time.' _Toothless sighed, stretching out. Valka had asked him what he wanted to do, and he'd responded by creating a small circle of flame in the grass, which he promptly put out and fell asleep on. He had only just woken up, and Valka was still staring at him in her typical I'm-looking-at-a-dragon awe.

'_What? Do you not like spending time with Astrid?'_ Valka was confused. Then again, she thought she remembered Astrid describing her dragon swap experience, and Toothless had never been mentioned.

_'Oh, spending time with Astrid is great,'_ Toothless sulked._ 'I had to spend time with_ _the twins, though.'_

Valka winced in sympathy. _'At least you got me this time.'_

Toothless nodded. '_Yeah. So, anything_ you _want to do?'_

Valka nodded enthusiastically. '_Flying!'_

* * *

Two hours.

Two whole hours of messing around with the strange object.

'_Can we do something else now?' _Hiccup asked petulantly, bored out of his mind.

'_But... But this thing!'_ Cloudjumper argued, equally childish.

Hiccup sighed. Practically all he'd done for the last half hour was sigh, actually, and he was getting desperate to do something else.

He sighed again. _Only one thing for it... _he thought.

_'Oh no,'_ he said theatrically._ 'Look at this cliff edge. What a shame it would be if I were to fall off it.'_

'_Hmm?'_ Cloudjumper hummed, not taking his eyes off the fabric flapping in the wind. Hiccup sighed.

'_Aaah.'_ he screamed halfheartedly, stepping off the cliff edge. _This better work._

Some part of him was a bit concerned that he was bored enough to risk such a stunt. That part was overshadowed by the rational part of his mind, which knew that he had his flight suit on, so he could easily swoop down to sea level and get a sea dragon to help him.

Or not; Cloudjumper had finally taken his gaze away from the failed-invention turned toy.

Or - in an (admittedly confusing) turn of events - he _wasn't_ being picked up by the four-winged dragon. It was Toothless who saved him, grabbing him up in a familiar grip as he soared past, Valka whooping all the while.

The night fury deposited him back on the cliffside.

_'What was that for?' _the night furydemanded.

_'Bored.' _Hiccup explained._ 'I was trying to get Cloudjumper,'_ he gestured to the dragon, still staring at the flapping fabric - he _really_ needed to name that - _'to stop playing around with that.'_

'_Why don't we fly for a while?'_ Toothless suggested. Valka nodded and hopped off, walking over to where Cloudjumper sat.

_'So much for dragon swap...' _Hiccup said, slightly disappointed. He smiled when Cloudjumper passed the rope on - quite reluctantly - to Valka.

Oh well; there'd be other dragon swaps.


	61. Chapter 61

**A/n: Sorry for the lack of updates! (Excuse time: no wifi + no laptop = no writing)  
But I'm back now, with movielover48's idea.**

* * *

Toothless looked at Hiccup and pouted. He must've prodded the Viking twenty times now, and yet he still wasn't awake.

_'Come _on!' he hissed in a sharp whisper - it was, admittedly, rather early, and he didn't want to wake anyone else up.

Hiccup moaned quietly, shifted around under the covers for a bit and then flopped back down, still asleep.

_Fine. _Toothless decided. _If he isn't going to wake up, I'll just go without him!_

Of course, Toothless _wanted _Hiccup to be there, so he - rather cleverly, in his opinion - decided to leave a message explaining where he went. He couldn't write Norse, or even Dragonese, so he used his considerable artistic talent to leave a drawing to explain his location. He did it outside, to compensate for how large all his drawings ended up.

Taking the time to nod at his handiwork, Toothless flew off.

* * *

Hiccup woke up when a particularly insistent stream of sunlight just wouldn't budge off his face, and he had no choice but to get up and _make _it move.

He realised how stupid and impossible the idea was about halfway across the room, which was the exact moment that he became awake enough to not be able to go back to sleep again.

Still tired and not quite willing to do any work yet, Hiccup decided to seek out Toothless. It was dawn, which meant that the night fury would probably be on the roof, or some other poor Viking's roof, jumping around to wake up whoever was inside. From the silence from his own ceiling, Hiccup assumed that Toothless was elsewhere, and went outside to go and find him.

It was obvious from the lack of disgruntled villagers at his door, complaining about his dragon, that Toothless wasn't there, either.

Confused now, and slightly concerned, Hiccup looked around the back of his house. Toothless was there, but he had been recently.

"What on Earth is _this?" _Hiccup wondered aloud, unable to appreciate Toothless's art in quite the same way as the artist himself. The collection of scribbles that Toothless had been quite proud of in no way resembled _any _location, let alone the one the dragon was actually waiting in.

If he squinted, and turned his head sideways, it almost looked like the indents into the ground were supposed to represent walls, and perhaps the filled in bit was _water, _not someone's beard.

It was the only lead he had, so Hiccup decided to head towards the cove.

* * *

_'Aha!'_ The call from Toothless let Hiccup know that his guess had been correct, before he even managed to poke his head around the entrance. '_I _knew _you'd get my message!'_

Toothless sounded very proud of his art, as usual, so Hiccup decided not to mention that he'd actually _not _been able to work it out as easily as the night fury was thinking. The dragon's voice was coming from above, and Hiccup looked up just in time to see a blur of black before he felt the Toothless barrel into him.

_'Agh!' _he shouted intelligently as he flew back, stopping only when the lake decided to get in the way. Sopping wet, and silently thankful that the night fury thought to knock him _through _the entrance instead of into it, Hiccup struggled into a sitting position. _'Hi bud...'_

_'Now we can _play!' Toothless grinned, bouncing around in the water and splashing more of it on both himself and his Viking friend.

_'Yeah,' _Hiccup chuckled at the dragon's enthusiasm, no longer bothering to flinch away from the splashes. _'but I'd like to get dried off first!'_

Toothless nodded his agreement, crouching down to let Hiccup scramble up onto his back. Once the Viking had found a grip on the now slippery saddle, Toothless took off.

The two flew around for a while, letting the air dry them out. It took a few minutes - and several blasts of warm air, courtesy of Toothless's plasma - to dry off completely, by which point Hiccup had managed to achieve a truly windswept look.

_'Let's go back now,' _Hiccup decided. _'and try not to land in the lake again!'_

Toothless pouted. _'Why not? That's the most fun part!'_

_'Because,' _Hiccup explained patiently, _'we'll end up wet all over again, and then spend the next few minutes drying ourselves off.'_

_'Okay,' _Toothless conceded, _'but we're gonna have to do that at some point today!'_


	62. Chapter 62

**A/n: Hey-yo! Truly making up for the days of no chapters, here's another one. I don't think it'll be the last of today's, either, so there should be even more to look forwards to! This is a continuation, of sorts, of one of trystrike's ideas.**

* * *

The dragons were gone, as usual, for the few days leading up to Snoggletog. It was a tradition now, one that everyone looked forwards to greatly. After all, the greatest present of all was a large group of adorable baby dragons.

The dragons residing in the caves of Berk had slightly different traditions for egg-hatching, which meant that the Viking residents of Berk got their presents early; the dragons hatched their eggs in lakes around the island, and took them straight back to the village to show off.

Despite that, Astrid noticed that people were just as enthusiastic as ever to welcome their own dragon companions back home. Perhaps even more so, as now both parties had something new to share.

For her, there was a slightly different reason to be happy. Hiccup had gone with the dragons a few days ago, and she was looking forwards to seeing him again. And seeing Stormfly's babies - she already knew that the nadder planned to let Toothless care for them, but she still couldn't wait to see them.

"Hey, look!" one of the Vikings in the crowd yelled, pointing skyward, "They're back!"

The usual cheers sounded out as the dragons flew in, carrying their babies in the same old boat that Hiccup had first used to help the return migration. Inside the boat, Astrid was sure, were Hiccup and Toothless, probably looking after the new babies that had just been entrusted to them.

The cheers increased in volume as the ship touched down, tipping gently to one side to let the hatchlings out. Sure enough, Hiccup was one of them, carrying a nadder in his arms.

"Hey Astrid!" he yelled above the cheers, rushing out to greet her, "Look, Stormfly -"

"Gave you and Toothless her children?" Astrid cut him off. "She told me before she left. Isn't it a great idea?"

Hiccup grinned. "Yeah!" he agreed happily. "Wow, it's so amazing... Toothless will finally feel less left out!"

Astrid's smile matched Hiccup's.

* * *

For the first few days after Snoggletog, all was quiet. It was technically a holiday still, for the chief as well as the villagers, which meant that Hiccup could dedicate most of his time to the two new dragons in the house, Trip (Hiccup had held good on his promise, after the dragon's balancing issues continued) and his sister, Firestarter (the tradition of literal names gave a good indication of what the nadder liked to spend her time doing).

It wasn't until a week had passed that problems started to arise.

At first, juggling alpha/chief duties while looking after children was manageable; the two friends always helped each other, and they didn't spend the _whole _day working. As more Vikings started having problems, and more dragons came up with complaints, however, Toothless and Hiccup's free time all but disappeared.

Between running a village and caring for young dragons, the two had much less time to spend together. That meant no more morning flights, less evening flights, and sometimes, no flights at all.

"We're going for a flight tonight, whether we have the time or not." Hiccup decided, pulling Firestarter away from the fireplace.

_'Are we just forgoing sleep?' _Toothless asked, using his tail to put out the small flame Trip had just caused.

Hiccup considered that for a moment, then nodded. "Looks like we'll have to." he admitted. "How does anyone do it?" he wondered, placating a disappointed Firestarter with a fish.

_'No one else has as much work as we do.' _Toothless reasoned. _'Why don't we get someone to help?'_

Hiccup stared; Toothless wasn't one to ask for help so casually.

_'What?' _Toothless asked defensively. _'I want to have more free time! And you have to admit, skipping morning flights is the worst.'_

"True," Hiccup relented. "So, who to ask? Stormfly?"

_'Stormfly.'_

* * *

Luckily, Stormfly completely understood the reason behind her new position of babysitter. She couldn't deny that it was a bit strange, babysitting her own children, but she was happy to see Hiccup and Toothless getting the time off they deserved.

She shared that with her rider, who was also happy to have some other dragons to look after, after Sleekscales had officially decided to leave the house and start living with the other dragons in the nest until she found herself a rider. It gave her something to do, and it was helping her boyfriend.

The fact that the hatchlings were adorable didn't hurt either.


	63. Chapter 63

**A/n: Another of trystrike's ideas, not technically today from my standpoint but hey, it's only a few minutes off...**

**Five more requests are left to make it up to 75, by the way. (And it'd be nice to have some feedback once in a while; it's hard to improve without your mistakes being pointed out!)**

* * *

It was a nice change, Hiccup decided, to have something bad brought to the island that couldn't be blamed on Trader Johan. This time it was the weather, with some bad luck added for the sake of it, that allowed the speed stingers passage to Berk once more.

Armed this time with language, Hiccup thought it better that he went out to face the pack of dragons alone. It would be good to actually know what they wanted, before they came and took it by force.

He met the group on the ice, blocking their path in the least threatening way he and the night fury could manage.

_'Why are you here?' _Hiccup asked.

The response was confusing. _'Dragon whisperer?' _one of the group asked, eyes darting between his leader and Hiccup.

_'Dragon whisperer.' _the leader confirmed. _'Home here?' _he asked.

_'Umm...' _Hiccup wasn't sure what to do. The speed stingers had caused complete chaos on Berk last time, but he didn't want to deny them a possible home. Not if they'd changed. _'Speed stingers... behave?'_

A chorus of _'Yes!' _rang out through the small dragons, starting in the middle with their leader and moving outwards in a wave.

_'Well...' _he said, still a bit reluctant, _'Yes. Home here.'_

* * *

"You did _what?"_

Hiccup sighed. Judging by Astrid's shrill exclamation, she was reacting just as he'd feared she would.

"They said they'd behave." Hiccup explained calmly. "And, whether I believe them or not, I'm going to give them a chance."

Astrid stared at him. "Okay," she said finally, "I trust _you, _at least. What's the plan?"

Hiccup grinned. "We'll keep them separately from the other dragons at first, until we can be sure that they're not going to try to sting anyone. In the meantime, we need to try to convince people to let them stay here..."

That was going to be easier said than done. Though they had forgiven dragons in general for ravaging the village for years without much thought or time, the speed stingers had, essentially, proven themselves to be one of the many species that were too hard to train, and weren't much help in general, more a hindrance.

Well, it would be interesting, at least.

* * *

The conversation that followed _was _interesting, just as Hiccup had predicted. Not interesting in an 'oh, this is new and surprising information' kind of way, but Viking Interesting.

Viking Interesting involved quite a bit of yelling, some fighting, and absolutely no progress whatsoever. Hiccup had only managed to get 12 words - an entire sentence! Success! - into his speech before he was cut off by the beginnings of what promised to be a quite excellent angry mob.

"There's a group of speed stingers that's coming to live on Berk."

"What?" Ever supportive of Hiccup, Snotlout was the first to question him. "You mean those things that paralyzed me? Where are they? I need _revenge!" _Hiccup rolled his eyes at this; Snotlout spoke in an overly dramatic tone that lacked seriousness altogether. "I need... I'm going to avenge my face for the beating it took that day!"

Silently, Hiccup was rather impressed that Snotlout even remembered being paralyzed by the speed stingers. Out loud, he simply gestured for silence, before his cousin could accidentally start up a rebellion of sorts.

"They said that they would behave."

"And you believed them?" Snotlout asked, disbelieving. "You can't trust those speed stingers; they're as violent as they are stupid.

Hiccup's sarcastic mutter of "and you aren't?" went unheard by the gathered crowd. Astrid, as the only other to hear it, had to quickly disguise her laughter, provoked by the statement, as a cough.

"Trust _me," _Hiccup offered. "I have a plan for if they misbehave - it's fine."

After a few tense moments, the crowd grumbled their reluctant agreement. Hiccup sighed, slumping in relief at their obedience.

* * *

It was a shame that it couldn't last.

Hiccup stood in protection of the unwitting speed stingers, brandishing his blazing sword. Beside him, Toothless warmed up a plasma blast in his mouth.

The group of Vikings flinched away from the flame, but stubbornly refused to back off. They weren't the brightest bunch, and had taken Snotlout's words to heart. Unfortunately, as their brawn more than made up for the lack of brain, they'd taken the violent approach to getting rid of the dragons. Really, it was lucky that Hiccup had been there when he was.

Though he was finding it hard to see it that way at the moment.

"Can we go _one day _without fighting?" Hiccup pleaded, waving his sword a bit more. If the Vikings had any sense at all, they would've obeyed their chief and backed off.

As it turned out, the group had as much bravery as they did stupidity. It wasn't the good bravery either, where they were willing to make personal sacrifices and risk life and limb for the good of others. No, they had reckless bravery, which, more often than not, ended up doing more harm than good.

"Not until _they _are gone!" the largest - and therefore leader - said decisively, punctuating his sentence with a prod of his sword in the direction of the small dragons.

_'Vikings hurt?' _the lead speed stinger questioned venomously.

_'No!' _Hiccup corrected urgently, having no choice but to leave the Vikings to Toothless as his attention turned to the flightless dragons behind him. _'Those Vikings bad.' _he pointed over to the sword-toting group, _'Hiccup,' _he prodded himself in the chest, _'good. Help speed stingers.'_

The lead stinger gave him a sceptical look. There was no time to confirm Hiccup's statement, as one of the Vikings barged past Toothless and held his sword over one of the dragons' heads.

"No, don't!" Hiccup yelled, bringing his own sword to counter the attack. The two metals collided with a sharp clang, and the speed stingers' eyes narrowed in unison.

"Ah, great, you've done it now..." Hiccup grumbled. "Run!" he commanded, and for once, the other Vikings listened. The speed stingers gave chase.

_'Toothless!' _Hiccup gasped as they ran, _'Tell Astrid to put the plan into action!'_

Toothless nodded grimly and took off, thankfully unhindered as he escaped fast enough. The villagers who had caused the original problem were also out of danger now, their bravado escaping them once provided with a genuinely dangerous situation.

That left Hiccup to face the stingers alone.

_Typical, _he thought, rather truthfully, as his metal leg started affecting his speed. The small dragons, staying true to their name, were almost upon him.

_Why is it always me? _he moaned as the paralyzing effect took place.

* * *

As soon as Toothless showed up without Hiccup on his back, Astrid rushed off to grab the cage. She and Stormfly got it and brought it over to the night fury, who led the way to where the small dragons were being kept.

When they arrived, only Hiccup stood in the middle of the chaos. Ten speed stingers circled him, while another few kept a watch out for the other Vikings that had threatened them. Hiccup was obviously paralyzed, stuck in a position of utter resignation.

Narrowing her eyes at the sight, Astrid searched out the leader. He was slightly further away from the group, at the back and quite exposed. Astrid used that as a means of grabbing him, stuffing him into the cage before he could work out what was happening.

_'I have your leader!' _she taunted, grateful for her Dragonese-speaking ability, _'Come get him!'_

The ensuing chase didn't last long; Astrid was much more competent than she had been the first time round, five years ago, and the operation had been pulled off with barely a hitch last time. It gave her plenty of time to get back to Hiccup, and to yell at the idiots that had caused everything in the first place.

"Mmf! Mmm!" Hiccup tried to speak as she raged at the suddenly sheepish Vikings.

"Yes, of course," she said calmly, sure that Hiccup knew that she didn't understand him in the slightest. "Toothless, if you could take him home?"

The dragon nodded happily, and picked his rider up by the legs before dragging him off.

"Now, where was I?" Astrid asked with faked sweetness. "Ah, yes. How could you be so _ignorant?"_


	64. Chapter 64

**A/n: Another by trystrike, one more left of theirs I think. Three more suggestion spaces left (try to only put one idea at a time so that no one takes all three of them).  
Also this is chapter 64 (64, 64 zoo lane) and no I couldn't help but make that reference.  
On with the show!**

* * *

Hiccup tilted his head to gain a better look at the dragon trapped in the ice. He'd been called over to the academy a few minutes ago by an excited Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who insisted that they'd found a new dragon species. The two were still there, having led him to the lump of ice and promptly started arguing over whether to name it a Ruff or a Tuff.

"Are you sure it's alive?" Hiccup asked. Sure, they'd found a skrill encased in ice before and it'd been fine, but this one looked like it had been in there for a while. He wasn't sure if he really _wanted _it to be alive, either; it was massive, and wouldn't have fit in the academy if not for the removal of the metal covering over the top. It almost seemed to rival the red death in size, though Hiccup hoped that it wasn't another of _those._

"Yeah!" Tuffnut said roughly. "Tuffnut Junior wouldn't be _dead!"_

Oh great, they'd named it already.

"It's _Ruffnut _Junior!" Ruffnut corrected with a shove to her twin's side. Hiccup sighed as the two started up a wrestling match, and stared at the new dragon.

"Well, better thaw it out," he decided. "Toothless, you know what to do."

The night fury nodded, obediently warming up a flame in his mouth and sending a small but steady stream of it out at the ice.

* * *

"Is it done yet?"

"For the last time... yes?" Hiccup said. The ice _had _melted, having taken over three hours to do so. In that time, the twins had gathered everyone else, and they were all watching the ice wash away with varying levels of intrigue.

"What type of dragon is _that?"_

"A Ruffnut!"

"A Tuffnut!"

"Hey!"

"We don't know what it is," Hiccup explained, ignoring the twins - who had started fighting again. "That's why we're all here. To find out."

Whatever type of dragon it was, it had clearly been in the ice for some time. Its movements were slow, unsteady -

"Does it even have wings?" Snotlout asked, unimpressed.

"Doesn't look like it..." Hiccup said unsurely. He approached the new dragon with slight caution. It didn't respond to his presence - he wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not.

The dragon stood up to its full, impressive height, and peeled its eyes open. It blinked a few times, adjusting to the light and having sight in general, then started inspecting its surroundings.

"What gender do you think it is?" Hiccup wondered, quite sick of having to refer to the dragon as an 'it'. He avoided it whenever possible, but it was hard to work out the gender of a new species.

"Why don't you ask?" Fishlegs hissed back, trying not to draw attention to himself as the dragon's gaze moved downwards.

_'Umm...' _Hiccup cleared his throat awkwardly. _'Hello.'_

The dragon looked down at him inquisitively, tilted its head and opened its mouth.

_'Would you mind telling me what you are?' _Hiccup continued when the dragon didn't speak. It looked like it was trying to - perhaps its vocal chords just weren't used to working? - _'Species, preferably, and gender...'_

The dragon continued to look at Hiccup. It was quite unnerving, really, and he was starting to feel more than a little unsettled under the intensity of it. It still hadn't spoken either, hadn't given any indication that it understood Hiccup's words, and the Viking was beginning to question whether it could actually speak Dragonese.

_'Do you understand -'_

The dragon got its voice back, and promptly cut Hiccup off with a massive roar that blew him back into Toothless. Hiccup's hands flew to his ears to block out the deafening noise, but it was completely ineffective. The dragon continued for a full minute before deciding that whatever point it was trying to make had been communicated, and turned to walk off.

Hiccup continued to stare after it as it walked off, his ears ringing. Astrid walked up in front of him, mouth moving without making any noise, and Hiccup frowned. She started waving a hand in his face, which was, quite frankly, annoying, and he pushed it out of the way.

Astrid carried on making her fish impressions as Hiccup stood up and dusted himself off, ready to go after the dragon and attempt a more civilised conversation. He made it halfway to the exit before his legs buckled and the ground came rushing up to meet him.

* * *

After a mad dash to catch Hiccup, and working out that the dragon's roar had probably deafened him - at least temporarily - Astrid brought him back home. Valka was there to greet her, and ask what had happened to her son. Astrid gave her version of events, and Valka listened with a slight frown on her face.

"It had no wings?" Valka checked, "And showed no signs of understanding Dragonese?"

Astrid nodded on both counts.

"Well, no wonder it didn't understand Dragonese - that's not a dragon!"

"What?" Astrid really wasn't sure what to think of that. Valka sounded serious, so it couldn't have been good, but what _was _it, then? She voiced that question.

"It's a dinosaur, by the sounds of it." Valka said grimly.

"A... dinosaur?" Astrid repeated. It didn't sound all that amazing. "So, it's like a dragon?"

"In strength and size, yes. But in intelligence? No dinosaur can be reasoned with. It'll destroy whatever's in its path."

"Oh." Astrid said. Now it sounded significantly more dangerous. "So, I suppose we have to go and get rid of it?" And without Hiccup's help? _Great._

* * *

When Hiccup woke, his ears were still ringing. Not so much that he couldn't hear anything else, not anymore, but still enough to be annoying.

He opened his eyes to see Astrid, and, if he concentrated hard enough, the fish faces she was making started to become words.

"...gone now so... don't have to..." she said.

"Wha..." Even his own voice seemed to be too hard to listen to, and he wouldn't have had any idea hat the rest of the sentence was supposed to be if not for the fact that he was the one saying it. Astrid giggled at his words, and he frowned. Perhaps he _had _been saying something other than what he'd intended - his question regarding what was happening was by no means a joke.

"Sounds... you... not recovered, quite?" Astrid asked. Hiccup's frown didn't lift.

"What?" he said, perhaps louder than necessary.

"That dinosaur knocked you out," Astrid explained, in a slow tone that was just as loud as Hiccup's. Though he wasn't glad that she was being so patronising - he knew she didn't mean to, but she still was - it was nice to be able to hear her. "Gothi says you've been temporarily deafened." she continued, "It should last another day or so."

_Another _day? How long had he been out?

"Not that long," Astrid answered as if he'd voiced his concerns aloud - perhaps he had, without realising it - "no more than a few hours. Just enough time to miss all the action with the dinosaur."

That word again. So he _hadn't _misheard. He thought back to the dragon - dinosaur, apparently - and decided that he didn't care what its actual name was, so long as it didn't come back.


	65. Chapter 65

**A/n: trystrike's idea, and hopefully not the last one I finish today.**

* * *

Hiccup stared at the line of disgruntled dragons. They were al voicing their complaints, loudly and at the same time, so that he actually had no idea what they were saying anymore.

_'Would you be _quiet?' he snapped, in a tone which he decided was actually quite polite, given the circumstances. The dragons stopped, blinking at Hiccup in a way which made him suspect that they'd forgotten that he was even there. _'Thank you, _he continued pointedly. _'Now, let's do this one at a time. Lump?'_

_'Those terrors!' _the dragon exploded, continuing his anger exactly where it'd been left off, _'They keep getting in the way, tripping me up!'_

_'I see.' _Hiccup said, honestly trying to sound like he cared but not really feeling that bothered. He really _could _see why it would upset the dragon - with a missing leg from Drago's traps, his balance wasn't the best _without _interference from the small yet irritating terrible terrors. _'Does anyone have a complaint that _isn't _to do with terrible terrors?'_

The dragons blinked. _I'll take that as a no, then._

Part of the reason why Hiccup was finding it so hard to care was that almost every problem that week had been related to that exact cause. He was getting tired of thinking up solutions - none of which seemed to be working, obviously - to the problem.

_'Next question,' _Hiccup said, _'why aren't you telling this to Toothless?'_

It was really getting ridiculous, the amount of dragons who'd decided that Hiccup should be the one to take all the complaints. And the Vikings weren't doing it to Toothless, so there really wasn't a good reason that he should be so incessantly pestered -

_'He's busy.' _Lump provided helpfully.

_'And you think I'm _not?' Hiccup took a deep breath. _'Fine. What's he doing that's making him so busy?'_

_'Gruff has another group where he is.' _Cloudjumper told him, landing just in time to hear the question. _'They're making the exact same requests.'_

Another deep breath wasn't quite enough to calm Hiccup. _'Right,' _he said, voice strained, _'where are they?'_

* * *

_'Hiccup! Thank Thor!' _Toothless yelled, gladly taking the distraction of Cloudjumper's landing to leap over to his rider. He nuzzled his head into the Viking as he spoke. _'They're driving me mad! Twelve complaints in the last hour, all about the -'_

_'Terrible terrors?" _Hiccup guessed. _'Yeah, I had a group doing the same thing. Managed not to bring them with me, though.'_

Toothless grinned his usual gummy smile. _'So, what's the new plan? Clearly the old one didn't work...'_

_'Uhh...' _Truthfully, Hiccup _didn't _have a new plan. He was beginning to think that he'd _never _find a way to control the terrors, after his last desperate attempt involved bribing them with _jokes, _of all things. It had actually worked for a while as well, but he ran out of jokes pretty quickly, and the terrors stopped obeying immediately after.

_'Why doesn't the alpha just control them?' _Gruff asked.

_'Ah.' _Hiccup said. _'I don't - I don't think that's really an _alpha _thing, per se, more a bewilderbeast... oh why not, Toothless?'_

_'What? Mind control?' _Toothless looked from the crowd to Hiccup. _'I don't know how!'_

_'Just... concentrate, or something!' _Hiccup suggested. _'You should at least give it a try - it's the best we've got at the moment.'_

* * *

_'Are you willing to admit that it doesn't work now?'_

Hiccup sighed. There _was _some pretty compelling evidence that Toothless just couldn't control minds.

"But you're the alpha." he protested, rather weakly by this point, "The queen could, the two bewilderbeasts could..."

_'Well thanks for the confidence,' _Toothless said sarcastically - _I'__m really rubbing off on him - 'but I'm really sure that I _can't'

"That's what I said to my dad about killing dragons," Hiccup said wisely, "and look at me defeating the red death! Who, might I remind you, controlled the dragons..."

_'Fine!' _Toothless snapped. _'I'll show you mind control! I'll mind control _you!'

"Um, I'm not a dragon, bud. That won't work." Hiccup said, but even as he did he started to notice that Toothless's gaze was a lot more intense than usual. "Won't... work..." he repeated.

_Slap yourself. _A voice sounded in Hiccup's head. It sounded calming. Something told him that he should obey it's -

_Slap myself? _The words registered and Hiccup faltered, quite disturbed to find his hand hovering inches from his face.

_'Ha!' _Toothless said triumphantly, _'Told you I'd do it!'_

"I... but... what?" Hiccup stuttered, still staring at his open hand, "You... did it?"

_'Yeah!' _Toothless grinned. _'Looks like it _does _work on humans, after all!'_

"We'll have to test that..." Hiccup decided. "Come on, let's try it on Astrid!"

With that, the two flew off, thoughts of stopping the terrors completely discarded.

* * *

"What am I supposed to be looking at here?"

Hiccup frowned, disappointed. "Toothless's eyes! Look at his eyes!" he insisted.

"Yes, they're very pretty. Now, _some _of us have things to do today, so if you don't mind..." Astrid stalked off, leaving a very confused Toothless and Hiccup.

"You sure you were doing the same thing, bud?"

Toothless nodded, just as confused as Hiccup. _'Maybe it really _does _only work on dragons.'_

"I'm not a dragon." Hiccup deadpanned.

_'Hey, guys,' _The two span round to find the two groups of dragons that had been pestering them, led by Gruff. An apologetic Cloudjumper stood at the side. _'Not to be a bother, but have you finished the mind control thing yet?'_

_'I don't know, let's see.' _Toothless said, glaring at the crowd. Slowly, they rose up and flew away. _'Yup, looks like it.'_


	66. Chapter 66

**A/n: Request from PI-Valkyrie-exLorien. ****Writing this has made me think about the Avengers crossover. I can't wait till I'm finished with this so I can write it!**

**(2 suggestion spaces left.)**

* * *

Valka looked at the swirling expanse in front of her. It was exactly as her son had described, from his experience travelling to a strange new world with Hookfang. It excited her, mostly, the prospect of travelling. There was the thrill of fear too - what if she went through, and it was a terrible, dangerous place? What if there was no way back?

But Hiccup found his way back, and Valka didn't doubt that she and Cloudjumper could, too.

"Come on!" she laughed, mind set on getting through. Though the darkened patch of sky was large, almost all-encompassing from where she hovered, just in front of it, it was fading. "It'll be fine."

Cloudjumper shook his head, not agreeing with her assessment. _'Come on...' _he said, panic increasing in his voice, _'we can go back now, tell people to stay away for a while, we don't have to go in there!'_

"Oh, you're no fun." Valka accused. She sighed dramatically; it looked like she wasn't going to be able to persuade him, after all. Unless...

Grinning and sending a silent thanks to Hiccup for the idea, Valka stood up.

_'Oh no, what're you doing?' _Cloudjumper asked, but he was too late. Valka let out a whoop as she leapt from his back, diving straight through the portal. He went straight after her without hesitation, cursing Hiccup and his unconventional methods of getting a dragon's attention.

* * *

It was just as Hiccup described, towering grey structures standing tall like a collection of closely-packed sea stacks, twinkling lights coming from the ground, the structures, _everywhere._

"It's beautiful..." Valka breathed.

_'Yes, it's very pretty.' _Cloudjumper agreed snappily, not quite as impressed. _'Now can we get out of here, before the way back disa - oh great.'_

"What?" Valka asked. The portal had been closing when they flew through, sure, but it wasn't so close that the few seconds they'd spent in the new land would've rendered them unable to return, would it? Craning her neck to look behind her, Valka noted that the portal was, sure enough, still swirling away in the background, no smaller than it had been a minute previously. In fact, it appeared to have stabilised; they had as long as they wanted to explore before they headed back.

So what was the problem?

Turning back round, Valka nearly slapped herself for not noticing the massive thing - for lack of a better word - that was slowly approaching. "What _is _that?" she asked, not expecting an answer.

_'I don't know.' _Cloudjumper admitted. It wasn't a surprise, not really, but it was still disappointing to hear.

Valka started asking what to do just as a voice came out of nowhere. She didn't understand what it was saying, but its tone was strict, no-nonsense.

"What's it saying?" she whispered to Cloudjumper, who shrugged.

Apparently the voice realised that she hadn't understood, as it started reeling off different messages, all in different tones and what she could only assume were different languages. Deciding that they'd come across hers eventually, she relaxed back into Cloudjumper.

Finally: _"Please come onto the helicarrier. A hatch has been opened for you. If you don't, we will be required to use force."_

It was an odd message - she hadn't the slightest clue what a helicarrier was, or what authority the voice held - but she decided to obey the orders it had given her. Assuming the strange, grey floaty thing to be the helicarrier, she nudged Cloudjumper forwards and started looking for an entrance.

"There's no need to be so formal," she told the voice while she searched. "or to use force; me and Cloudjumper are quite peaceful, actually."

There was silence, then: _"We'll see about that."_

It was all very exciting, really. Something like Hiccup's experience of the world she found herself in.

The hatch showed itself not long after, and Cloudjumper flew into it. They were met immediately by two men, dressed strangely and standing with an air of power despite a lack of obvious weaponry on their persons.

"Hello!" she said, not really bothered by their attitudes - she'd dealt with worse back on Berk - "Who're you?"

"We're asking the questions." the man on the right snapped back. He was the shorter of the two, and actually looked a bit more pleasant. Taken aback by his rudeness, Valka found that she didn't want to discover how much worse his one-eyed companion was. "Who are you?"

"Well, I'm Valka," she introduced, more warily now, "and this is Cloudjumper."

"A dragon?" the shorter man questioned after the other said something in the strange language from before.

"Yes." she confirmed, quite proudly.

"Oh great, another one."

Another one? So this _was _where Hiccup had ended up! Now they could compare experiences!

"Another one?" she asked anyway, curious as to their impressions of her son.

"Yes. Came out of a portal just like the one you just appeared from, with two dragons. Left before we could ask any questions."

"Sounds like Hiccup." Valka nodded knowingly.

"You know him?" the man prompted. Why hadn't the other spoken yet?

"Yes; he's my son." she explained. "Why isn't the other guy speaking?"

"He doesn't speak Norse." the man said. She nodded - it made sense, sort of. "Now, questions?"

"What? Oh, yeah, ask away..." Valka invited, attention grabbed by a strange contraption behind the men. It was an odd shape, nothing like anything Hiccup had ever made.

"Where are you from?"

"Berk." she answered, thinking of the best way to go about moving over to the curious object without drawing attention to herself. It would be difficult under the two men's intense stares, but she was confident that she could manage it. She started shuffling round.

"Did you create the portal?"

"Nope!" A cheery answer and a slightly exaggerated hand action to compliment it, so that they didn't notice her larger steps.

"Do you know anything about this place?"

"Just what Hiccup told me." She was so _close._

"And what did he tell you?"

"That the people there were really inquisitive." she said jokingly, taking another half-step back. If she reached out now, she could grab it -

"Hey! What're you doing with that?"

"This?" Valka asked, holding the object up. She still had no idea what it was, but it was small, easily held. If not for the complete lack of sharp edge or heavy iron end, she would've thought it a weapon. "What is it?"

"A _gun." _the man said After a moment's consideration, he continued: "It's a weapon."

"Really?" Valka had never heard of a gun before. "Never seen one before."

"Why, do you use swords and axes on Berk?" the other man said. He spoke in a strange way, like he was reading the words phonetically.

"Yes." she responded. "What else would we use?"

"A _gun, _for one." Back to the other man, who now sounded mildly amused. "Are you a Viking, by any chance?"

"Yes!" Valka confirmed. She grinned - they were finally getting somewhere.

"You worship Thor, Loki, people like that?"

Valka nodded, a bit confused. _Why call gods people?_

"Well, you'll like this."

* * *

"And you really make thunder, and use Mjolnir, and you can fly?"

"Yes." Thor said kindly. He was vaguely amused - he'd never gone down to Midgard back when everyone believed that the people of Asgard were gods, and it was quite fun to have someone so in awe of him.

"Wow... Wait 'till I tell Hiccup! He'll regret leaving so soon now!"

Ah, and the Viking names. They were always the best parts of people's tales of their trips. Wait, _Hiccup?_

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third?" he guessed. Valka nodded, frowning slightly.

"You know him?"

"Loki spoke of him many a time after his visits to Midgard." he explained. "He said that he was a good man to play tricks on, and he used his magic to turn him into a... fury of the night."

Valka stared, dumbstruck. So Loki really _had _been behind Hiccup's dragon experiences. _Wow._

"Well it's been nice talking to you Thor," she said, looking out of the window - she'd never heard of using glass to make walls, of all things, but she had to admit that it was _genius - _at the slowly diminishing portal, "but I think me and Cloudjumper have to be leaving now."

Thor nodded in understanding. "Farewell, Valka, Cloudjumper." he said, nodding his head to each of them in turn.

_Thor _was nodding at her. It was almost too much.

Making an effort to stay calm, Valka returned the nod and jumped onto Cloudjumper. Thor pointed the way to the hatch and left her to find it.

"Ready to go home?" Valka asked, patting her dragon as they hovered next to the portal. It was barely their size now - they must have been there for quite a while.

Cloudjumper nodded, and no underhanded tactics were required to force him through this time.


	67. Chapter 67

**A/n: A mix of requests from TNT and trystrike - the main idea and a smaller detail, respectively. I hope I got the personality right for Jack the Sneaky, but at least I gave it my best shot. And it was actually really fun to write - much more so than I expected, anyway.  
For reference, it's set just after the T-Rex chapter.**

* * *

Hiccup was starting to see the possible upsides of the whole 'deafness' thing. The twins had been talking to him nonstop for the last ten minutes, and, though he could actually understand what they were saying entirely, the twins believed that he still couldn't hear.

It was amusing, to say the least. So far they'd managed to reveal quite a number of secrets about themselves, and a number about Snotlout - it was surprising just how much they actually knew about Snotlout, really.

"Ooh! Tell him about the time Snotlout tried to sell Hookfang after he did the opposite of what he asked for an entire week!"

"Yeah, that's great! He'll never even hear it!"

Yes, having people believe that you can't hear was _brilliant._

Truthfully, he'd had his hearing back for the past day; it had come back completely just a few hours after he originally woke up. He'd actually told the twins this on several occasions - it wasn't _his _fault that they lacked the brain cells to retain and process the information.

"Hiccup!"

"Heh, silly Astrid," Tuffnut laughed as Hiccup turned to the source of the shout. "He can't hear you!" He turned to Hiccup then, waving a hand in his face. "Your girlfriend wants you." he said slowly.

Hiccup smiled. _Well, at least they're looking out for me..._

"What is it, Astrid?" he asked, approaching her and slightly glad that he was out of the twins' earshot; he could keep the charade up for longer now - not that the twins would realise even if they _could _hear him.

"There's someone at the shore." she explained. "Washed up just now, keeps babbling stuff..."

"From another tribe?" he guessed, noticing Astrid's reluctance to speak of him. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the Heather incident, but at least he wouldn't make the mistake of putting his trust in a stranger rather than Astrid this time.

"Not quite... he's just a bit... weird."

* * *

Weird, as it turned out, was an understatement. Dressed from head to toe in the thick, scaly skin of what Hiccup assumed - but desperately hoped he was wrong - was a dragon, the newcomer was brandishing a bone - from the leg, if Hiccup had to guess - as a club, and sporting a skull as a helmet.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked, slightly awkwardly. The stranger turned to stare at him, wide eyes piercing through him - as if the mad glint in them wasn't enough. The man turned to regard the rest of the group surrounding him, and Hiccup wasn't sure whether the fact that his expression appeared to be a permanent one was a comfort of not. Deciding to take it as a positive sign, Hiccup soldiered on with a reiteration: "Your name?"

"Jack!" the man - Jack, if his random shout could be assumed as a name - snapped to the air. "Jack the Sneaky!"

"I... see..." Hiccup said slowly, not sure how to respond. "Any reason why your boat landed on Berk, or..."

"I'm hungry." Jack offered by way of explanation.

"Oh. Okay." _Well, at least he's being honest... _"You can come to the hall then; we'll get you something to eat there."

* * *

"This is great!" Jack complimented, devouring yet another chicken leg. "What is it?"

"A... uh... a chicken leg." For all the strange people he had to deal with on a daily basis, Hiccup found himself unable to remain calm when dealing with them far too often. He made a mental note to do something about that later - how to deal with you weirdo, sounded about right... - "Um, Jack?"

"Yeah?" he looked up from his chicken leg, apparently not seeing anything odd about the situation.

"What's with the..." Hiccup gestured towards Jack's attire, for lack of a better explanation.

"The skin and bones?" Jack asked, grinning. "They're not from these, don't worry." he gestured to Toothless, who growled at him.

(_'Easy bud.' _Hiccup warned.)

"They're from dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs?" Hiccup repeated. Jack must've mistaken his interest for confusion, because he launched into a detailed explanation of them.

"Yeah. Massive things. Look a bit like your dragons, actually. Can't spit fire, though, and can't fly or anything. A bit disappointing, really; these guys look _much _more interesting!"

"I know what they are," Hiccup revealed, "I've seen one. Or, more to the point, _heard _one. But where _were _you, to find so many of them?"

"An island." Jack supplied helpfully. "No idea where. Was absolutely full of 'em though."

"Well, maybe you could help us!"

"Help? You got dinosaurs here?"

While it was a bit off-putting to see him start to get excited at the prospect of seeing a dinosaur, Hiccup was grateful that he wasn't refusing the request. Berk's dinosaur problems may have been avoided for a while - Astrid had driven it off with the help of some thunderdrums (apparently it wasn't too glad to meet something louder than it) - but it was really only a matter of time until a more permanent solution would become necessary - after all, it couldn't leave the island by the air or the water, so it was definitely still on Berk.

"One, yes." Hiccup confirmed. "Pretty big, _very _loud."

"Did it have tiny arms and a massive head?"

Hiccup thought back. Honestly, he'd been thinking things more along the lines of _oh gods why is it so loud how could hearing hurt so much _than _ah look, it has abnormally proportioned features. Fascinating. _"Maybe," he shrugged, "I didn't get that good a look. Maybe Astrid knows."

"Maybe Astrid knows what?"

Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. "Hey Astrid! We were discussing the dinosaur we found. Did it have small arms, a big head?"

"Yeah." Astrid replied after a moment's thought. She continued, head tilted slightly: "Why do you need to know?"

"It's a T-Rex, then!" Jack said triumphantly. His grin did nothing to help Hiccup's outlook on the situation.

"Great." he said dully. "So, is there any significance to that?"

"Well, it means that it's the type to eat people," Of course, Jack would be excited at the thought, "but not much else."

"Lovely."

"What do we do to get rid of it?" Astrid asked, lightly elbowing Hiccup to stop his sarcasm.

At that question, Jack grinned. "Leave it to me."

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Relax! It'll be fine!"

In Hiccup's defence, there hadn't been much evidence that the plan was going to work. Jack's muttered "probably" only heightened that.

It didn't help that the new plan was to tempt the dinosaur with some strange meat Jack had grabbed from the remains of his boat. After hearing that dinosaurs were much less intelligent than any dragon, and decidedly less trainable, such inhibitions were only natural.

"Okay... so what should I do?" Hiccup asked. He'd been told that he needed to be there - not that he'd be letting Jack out of his sight any time soon - but never given any reason why.

"Stand there and watch my brilliance!" Jack grinned.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but didn't argue further. "Fine. Just get on with it."

Jack nodded, his grin widening even further. "Here, Rexy!" he yelled, cupping his hands over his mouth. It was met with an equally loud roar.

"Let's go!" he shouted to Hiccup, charging forwards with his bone-club outstretched.

* * *

Hiccup was quite glad, now, that his instructions had been to stay back and watch. Not that he would've been able to do anything anyway; he had been told to leave Toothless behind - the night fury was no more pleased than he was at the idea - so he felt quite defenceless.

The T-Rex - it really _did _have small arms, Hiccup noticed - was towering in front of them, roaring in response to every one of Jack's shouted insults. So far, neither had tried anything.

Jack took the initiative, rushing in to thwack the dinosaur's leg with the bone. For all his bravado, he seemed quite useless; the hit did nothing but enrage it further.

"Is that your plan?" Hiccup asked, backing away a bit and hoping that his 'safe distance' really _was _safe.

"Yeah! You bet you're scared! Weak as a stegosaurus, you are!"

"Grooar!"

_Ah. _He wasn't actually listening.

Jack pulled out the strange meat then, waving it as high as possible - around the height of the T-Rex's ankles. It has an instantaneous effect; the dinosaur stopped immediately, bent down as far is it could with its ridiculous proportions, and sniffed it. The roar that came out next was slightly less sure of itself.

"Ha ha!" Jack shouted triumphantly, bouncing around and waving the flesh like a madman. "Knew you were scared! Yes, I vanquished this beast - just as I will vanquish you!"

"That's great and all," Hiccup muttered, fully expecting to be ignored again, "but couldn't you just get rid of it now?"

"What would the fun be in that?" Jack pouted. _Of course, he hears me now. _"Okay, okay, bossy-pants. I'm getting rid of him."

And then, Jack rushed up to the dinosaur, scrambling up its back to land on the creature's head. He tugged on its jaw, leading it away and over to the edge of the island.

Hiccup watched in slack-jawed amazement as both Jack and dinosaur stepped into the ocean.

"Bye!" the man yelled, waving wildly to Hiccup as he disappeared into the ocean.

"What... but... what?"


	68. Chapter 68

**A/n: This one is just TNT's idea. Another one with Trader Johan - I'm starting to get the idea that you just like watching him mess things up!**

**EDIT: That's it, folks! No more requests. I'm booked up till chapter 74, and 75 is going to be one of my own design. Sorry!**

* * *

_'Can't we just get a different trader?'_

"No." Hiccup responded. "Johan's the best, and he's actually the fairest, though he might not look like it. Besides, he promised not to bring any parrots."

_'Like he 'promised' last time?' _Toothless asked disbelievingly.

"It's different this time." Hiccup promised. "Parrots are banned; he wouldn't go against Berk law."

_'Still can't believe you did that,' _Toothless laughed. _'absolutely amazing..."_

Hiccup sighed. "Sure, it was funny," he admitted. "but it was a perfectly good reaction at the time. And we haven't had any trouble with them since, have we?"

_'No,' _Toothless conceded, _'but there was the terrible terror thing.'_

"That's different." Hiccup argued. "Besides, it's beside the point. We're going to be watching Johan the whole time. It'll be fine."

_'Great. Now you jinxed it.'_

"Shut up."

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless landed on Johan's boat before it landed, ignoring his grandiose tales of adventure while they seached it for anything potentially harmful.

"Err, Johan?" Hiccup said slowly, peeling the cloth covering from one of the containers. "What's this?"

"What, Hiccup?" Johan was pulled from recounting the tale of how he managed to get the fleece he was wearing to look over at the Viking. "Ah, yes, that's an eel." he said proudly.

It was the wrong thing to say. "Do you remember the effect eels have on dragons?" Hiccup asked dangerously. At the mention of eels, Toothless had retreated to the opposite side of the boat, hissing at the offending container.

"Well, yes, but it's a very special eel."

"Special?" Hiccup repeated, not totally won over but no longer mad.

"Yes!" Johan said hurriedly. "It can shoot lightning!"

"A lightning eel?" As amazing as that sounded, it only made them more dangerous. "Well, as long as you keep it out of sight and contained..."

"Oh, thank you Hiccup!" Johan beamed. "I'll make sure no one ever knows it's here!"

* * *

Of course, someone ended up buying it. _It's just my luck, _Hiccup thought miserably, scowling over at Fishlegs.

"What?" the other Viking said defensively, "It's so _interesting! _Look at the way it crackles with lightning! Amazing!"

"Yes, amazing." Hiccup repeated, nowhere near as enthusiastically. "And I'd prefer it an amazingly large distance from here."

_'I'm with Hiccup here,' _Meatlug admitted, eyeing the eel warily. _'What if someone accidentally eats it? Who knows what it'll do?'_

"Oh, that'll ne -"

"Don't finish that sentence." Hiccup warned, hand pressed against Fishlegs' mouth. "Even thinking it is jinxing it."

Fishlegs pouted, but didn't argue back. "Fine. I'm being careful though, see?"

Hiccup nodded. "Just don't let it out of your sight."

* * *

The twins stared at the container.

"What do you think's in it?" Tuffnut wondered.

"A dragon?" Ruffnut guessed. "Whatever it is, Hiccup said it was dangerous..."

"Let's let it out!"

"Yeah!"

The twins jumped down from their hiding spot on top of Fishlegs' house, rushing up behind him. The thing in the tank was identifiable as some sort of fish from this distance. Tuffnut tapped Fishlegs on the back while Ruffnut ran around him.

"What are you doing?" Fishlegs asked, a mix of suspicion and nervousness in his tone; he'd fallen victim to the twins' pranks far too many times to not recognise the look of mischief.

"Nothing." Tuffnut said unconvincingly, looking round Fishlegs to see how far Ruffnut had got with freeing the fish - an eel, actually, as it turned out.

"Where's Ruffnut?" Fishlegs wondered. A pause. "Wait." He turned round to see the other twin, caught in the act of shuffling the eel's tank along. "No, you can't have that!"

The twins looked at each other, grabbed the tank and ran.

"Hiccup!"

* * *

Hiccup perked up at the cry of his name. It was Fishlegs' voice, and it sounded urgent.

_The eel. _he realised, jumping into action and running off in the direction of the shout.

"Curse you Johan!"

* * *

When Hiccup finally reached Fishlegs, the tank was nowhere to be found. And neither were the twins.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Fishlegs shrank back under his glare. "They grabbed the tank and ran." he explained nervously. "I couldn't stop them - they were too fast."

Hiccup sighed, dragging a hand down his face. "Of _course _this would happen," he muttered, "why would it go _right?"_

"Fine." A deep breath later, he was back to normal. "Let's get the twins before they can cause any more damage."

* * *

The twins were on the beach, and, amazingly, they weren't trying to feed the eel to anyone.

"Be free!" Ruffnut yelled, chucking the eel and all the water surrounding it into the sea.

Fishlegs whimpered as he watched his eel swim away, thinking of the hammer he'd had to trade to get it. "What was that for?"

"Hiccup said it was dangerous." Ruffnut explained. "So if we let it go, it'll destroy stuff!"

Hiccup laughed. "Well, that's one way of thinking about it." _Luckily, not the right way... _"Sorry Fishlegs," Hiccup said unapologetically, "I _did _say not to let it out of your sight."


	69. Chapter 69

**A/n: Prompt from Emerald. It's a short one, unlike the last few. And I haven't actually named Hiccup's son, because I'm a terrible and lazy author. So if any of you have an idea for a name, I'm all ears. Until then, a nameless child he shall remain.**

**And just in case you didn't read it from the last chapter: no more suggestions, sorry.**

* * *

Hiccup smiled down at the young Viking sitting on his legs. His son grinned back, leaning into him happily.

"Tell a story." he requested.

Hiccup chuckled. "A story? About what?"

"The dragons."

Hiccup sighed at Draek's predictability. "Again?" His son nodded. "Okay. There were dragons when I was a boy. Lots of them, all of different shapes and sizes. Some of them were as big as the biggest mountain on Berk, and some of them were -"

"As small as _me!" _the young Viking cut in proudly. "And the best one of all! Tell me about him!"

Hiccup shook his head with a smile. "Why don't you let him tell you himself?" He nodded over to Toothless, who was snoozing by the fire.

"No!" Draek shook his head violently. "You tell it better. And when Uncle Toothless says it I have to translet."

"Translate." Hiccup corrected gently. "Okay," he sighed dramatically, as though it was a great ordeal, "I'll tell you. The best dragon of all was called Toothless, and he was the one who stayed."

"Because Toothless and daddy are best friends!" the boy grinned.

"Yes. Now, can I tell my story?" Hiccup asked good-naturedly. The boy nodded. "Okay. Toothless was the first dragon to befriend a human. It all started when he was shot down by a young Viking called Hiccup."

"That's you!"

"Yes, it is. And Hiccup freed Toothless, instead of killing him, didn't he?"

"Yeah! And then he and Toothless were secret friends, and they did secret flying!"

"I thought I was the one telling the story?"

"You _are,_" Draek said, as though explaining it to someone very unintelligent, "but I'm telling those bits!"

"I see," Hiccup laughed, "well then, I'll skip straight to the battle."

His son's eyes widened. "Tell me how they killed the big dragon!"

"I will, if you can be quiet!" Hiccup scolded, voice unable to retain any seriousness once his son started to giggle. "The big dragon chased Hiccup and Toothless up into the air, away from all the other Vikings. Toothless shot his fire at it and tore at its wings, and when it took in a deep, deep breath to spit fire at the two..."

"Toothless shot in its mouth and killed it!" Draek shouted, jumping up in glee.

"Shhh! We don't want to wake the village now, do we?" Hiccup asked.

"No... but that part's the _very best _part!"

Hiccup smiled and looked over at the sleeping dragon. "I think the best part was when the two became friends..."


	70. Chapter 70

**A/n: movielover48's suggestion. It occurs to me now that this is pretty similar to the last chapter, so I'm gonna try and do it a bit differently. And I'm writing this author's note before I write the chapter but I'm pretty certain that this is gonna be a short one because I'm terrible at writing the children, so sorry for that one in advance.  
EDIT: Thanks to Anpow3r, 'the boy' is now Draek.**

* * *

Hiccup proposed to her with the song. Of course, Astrid didn't mention the fact that she could already tell that he was going to do it, and accepted his request gladly. That didn't stop her from teasing him about it incessantly in the following weeks though.

He got his own back at the wedding, when she gave a sappy speech that had even Snotlout crying - he denied it later, but the tear tracks on his face ruined the effect.

It wasn't until a few years later that they had their first child, Draek. He was probably going to be their only child, too; Astrid couldn't stand the boredom that came with pregnancy, even if it was nice to have Hiccup fussing over her all the time.

He was the spitting image of Hiccup, Astrid thought, except for the distinct lightness to his hair that he gained from her.

Draek got a few other traits from his mother: the ability to wield a weapon - thankfully - and strength. Hiccup's love of dragons rubbed off on him, but gladly not his biting sarcasm. And he was an obedient child.

"Get back here!"

Well, most of the time.

Hiccup chased his son through the house, scrambling over the furniture as the younger Viking ducked under it, giggling as he ran.

"You're not helping!" he called to Astrid, scowling at her as she laughed at him.

"It's your turn to give him a bath." Astrid replied evenly. The effect was ruined when she burst out laughing, unable to keep a straight face.

"I blame Gobber..." Hiccup muttered as he backed Draek into a corner. The elderly Viking was having a bad influence on him, telling him that baths were terrible things that should be avoided at all costs. _I'd like to see _him _helping on bath night, maybe he'd change his tune..._

"Gotcha!" Hiccup cried triumphantly, lifting the eight-year-old into the air and ignoring his tantrum. He walked over to the tub with him, putting him in, clothes and all.

Now in the bath, the boy was more compliant. He washed himself, glowering at Hiccup as he did.

Now Hiccup was laughing. "Don't give me that look. You stank! That's what happens when you spend the whole day wrestling in the mud." He looked over at Astrid, grinning devilishly. "Now it's your turn: try and get him to bed!"

* * *

**Quick question: can anyone actually see the reviews that were made after PI-Valkyrie-exLorien's one about the Avengers crossover? Because I've had alerts for the reviews but I can't see them on there, and for some of them it's been a day now. Please tell me if you've seen them, or if you haven't, or if you have any idea why that's happening because I'm a bit confused by this point.**


	71. Chapter 71

**A/n: Hi guys! Haven't put up as many chapters as usual today, but I kinda got distracted with writing the plot for How To Train Your Avengers (yes, that is the name and no, I'm not any good at names). In other news, the reviews problem is sorted, which is nice.**

**This suggestion comes from Mikowmer.**

* * *

Getting knocked quite a distance into the freezing ocean when you had only one arm and it was being used to grab onto the dying dragon that was going down with you was _not _enough to kill someone, and anyone who thought otherwise was an idiot.

Drago hoped that there were a lot of idiots in the world, because otherwise there'd be people after him, knowing that he was still alive, drifting through the ocean, suitably vulnerable and sitting on a piece of ice created by the late bewilderbeast.

He wasn't afraid of being found - he could take any Viking on one-handed and he was willing to prove it - but it would complicate matters somewhat. He also wasn't sure where he was going, and all of his human followers had abandoned him long ago - he was sure of this, despite having never seen it happen, for why else would nobody have come to collect him? - so for now he had to drift.

But he would survive this, he would come back stronger, and he would make that blasted dragon tamer see the terrible mistake he'd made in choosing friendship over fear as a leadership tactic. Because it _was _a mistake, even if it was the only reason he was drifting on the damned piece of ice.

A piece of land appeared on the horizon, and Drago's scarred lips pulled up into what couldn't be classed as a smile, on account of the fact that it held no joy and was more terrifying than comforting.

He'd take this land for his own, enslave any people he found, and amass his dragon army again, from the ground upwards.

It'd be simple; he'd done it before.

* * *

Fate had it in for him. Or perhaps Thor, or Loki, or one of the other obscure gods everyone cursed to any secretly feared. The blasted island was the dragon tamer's - Berk, he'd called it - and there was no way that he was going to take this land. Not yet.

Your options were always limited when you were missing an arm, but Drago felt that perhaps this was a more trying experience than other's he'd come across. No matter; he'd just have to be sneaky. Get in, grab a boat, get out. Nobody even had to know he was there. Maybe he could even steal some food while he was at it; raw fish lost its appeal rather quickly when it was the only thing available.

That was the plan, anyway. It didn't hold for long, because apparently bewilderbeast ice was different enough from other ice for a dragon rider to notice it several hundred feet up and get curious, which meant that the dragon the chief was riding before he'd died ended up coming straight down to meet him and, joy of all joys, it was Eret that had taken Stoick's place as a rider.

Curses.

"The tables have turned now, hey?" Eret smirked, all smug grins and superiority but apparently not revenge, for he didn't blast him on sight and Drago _knew _that Eret knew that he wasn't wearing his coat, so why didn't he?

It occurred to him, several feet up and caught in the claws of the hunting dragon, that it was probably the dragon tamer and his ridiculous notions of mercy and second-chances. _What a bunch of weaklings._

So Drago ended up on Berk a few hours earlier than expected, having been seen by several more people than expected, too.

He still growled at everyone he was led past, scaring them into silencing their jeers even without a weapon or dragon to call his own, and he held his ground even as he stared the new chief in the face.

While his own expression carried anger, clearly wishing death on the boy, Hiccup's did not.

"You're not going to kill me." Drago said, and it wasn't a command; it was fact. Hiccup nodded, but still didn't speak.

"I know that you're just going to go and start again." Hiccup told him at last. "You're going to build an army and try to extract revenge. And then, I'm going to stop you. Because while you are starting all over, Berk already has the trust of our dragons, and your fear-mongering will never come close to what we have."

He was a sentimental idiot without a backbone, but he was right. Not about the friendship, but about Drago's plan.

"And you're going to let me go free, with a boat and another arm, because you do not know what true power is." Drago returned, in the same even tone as Hiccup.

"Close."

* * *

He didn't get his arm back, but he _did _get a boat, and a warning from the new alpha, the night fury that the dragon tamer had impossibly - because it _wasn't _friendship - pulled back from the previous alpha's command. Toothless had growled in the tongue of dragons, and Hiccup had translated: "touch my rider again and you'll lose more than a fake arm."

It was a nice threat, but an ineffective one, all the same.

Drago grinned as his boat left the port, getting his last good look at the island that would one day be his.


	72. Chapter 72

**A/n: Suggestion from Angela. Bit of a warning: I've never actually watched the Sorcerer's Apprentice, so all my knowledge of it comes from the clips I could get from the internet and a vague and ultimately unhelpful wiki page. So if the characters seem a bit OOC, it's 'cause watching the trailers isn't exactly the same as watching the real thing.**  
**But I tried, and therefore no one can criticise me. (That's a lie feel free to rant to avenge your butchered characters.)**

* * *

Honestly, Dave had no idea what was going on. That weird guy - Balthazar, or something - had barrelled into his life, messed everything up, and decided that he was going to become the best sorcerer in, like, _ever. _Which he was cool with. Fine, make him part of the crazy world of magic. Really, it all looked pretty wicked anyway. But was dumping him in the middle of the ocean really necessary?

What did it even have to do with his training? Was he supposed to do some magic and get himself out of there? Because he had no clue how, and he was pretty sure Balthazar knew that, after his pathetic attempts at magic thus far. Mind you, it might not have been intentional. That would explain all the cursing his mentor's panicked rush to grab his hand and yank him out of the weird portal doo-dad.

As he yelled these thoughts into the sky, he caught the attention of a passing dragon.

Dave wasn't sure whether or not to be concerned at the fact that he wasn't shocked at this development.

The dragon flew down to his level, and it was revealed that a stereotypical Viking sat on it.

"You're not Hiccup." the Viking said. An astute observation.

"No, I - I'm Dave."

"Well, you sound like Hiccup. Maybe you're related..." Before Dave could assure the Viking that he was almost certain he didn't have any Viking relatives, (though who knew? Maybe he did.) the dragon-riding man had started rambling on about long-lost brothers and how cool that was. "I'll take you to meet him!" he eventually decided, and Dave was plucked up in the dragon's claws as the Viking flew away.

* * *

So Dave was grabbed by a dragon and paraded around Berk, by a Viking that he soon discovered was called Snotlout. Each name he discovered seemed to be trying to outdo all the others by sheer force of ridiculousness. He still hadn't been let out of the dragon's grip, either, which was pretty scary considering its tendency to flame up at random.

"You wouldn't happen to know where New York is, would you?" Dave asked. It was a long shot, but he might just get an answer -

"Yeah!" Snotlout confirmed happily. _Finally, a way out! _"It's in another universe! I've totally been there. Nice place; lots of chicks."

Dave thought that it might be cool to be in another universe - the science behind the idea would probably be fascinating - if not for the fact that he had pretty much no way out now.

"I swear, when I get back to Balthazar, I'm gonna kill him." Dave grumbled.

"I'd like to see you try."

Dave perked up at the sorcerer's voice, struggling in the dragon's clawed grip to try and look towards the source of the noise.

"I'll be taking him," Balthazar told Snotlout, waving his hands and doing another of his cool magic tricks to free Dave.

"But Hiccup's only just arrived!" the Viking protested, pointing over to the crowd, where a one-legged man was forcing his way through.

"That's Hiccup?" Dave wondered, just as Hiccup asked: "What's going on here?"

Well, Snotlout was right, they _did _sound similar.

"We were just leaving." Balthazar said with forced politeness, opening up a swirling portal identical to the one Dave had first been dragged through.

"Uh... bye..." Dave said with an awkward wave as he let his magical mentor lead him back into his own world.


	73. Chapter 73

**A/n: Suggestion from MysteryCooper 101. Not much else to say here... how boring.**

* * *

"Hey, Ruffnut." Snotlout leant into Hookfang casually. "What're you doing - ah!"

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow at the Viking, who'd just slapped himself across the face. "What am I doing ah? What's ah mean?"

Snotlout stared at his hand. "I was _going _to say," he continued, putting the offending limb back onto Hookfang's neck, "what are you doing - ah!"

Again, Snotlout cried out in pain as he found himself receiving a slap to the face, yet again coming from his own hand. "This isn't funny!" he snapped, despite the laughs from the twins that proved otherwise. "All I want to do is get a girl and - oh, come _on!"_

A few metres away, positioned behind a nearby house, Toothless crouched and watched his hard work pay off. He'd spent a lot of time working on his mind control with the terrible terrors, and he was getting very good at it. Good enough to get instant effects, and to interrupt Snotlout's pathetic flirting attempts.

He snorted with laughter as Snotlout huffed and stormed off, catching the attention of the twins.

"Was that you?"

_'Yes.' Oh, they can't understand Dragonese... _Toothless nodded his head.

"Cool!" they breathed, then gave simultaneous orders for the mind control to be used against the other.

Toothless was happy to oblige, and narrowed his eyes slightly. Both twins slapped themselves, then each other, hard enough to knock themselves to the ground.

_I could get some use from this... _Toothless realised. _Go and get me some fish._

The twins nodded slowly, moving in a very controlled manner over to the harbour.

* * *

"Hey bud. Got yourself some dinner?" Hiccup asked, watching Toothless finish up a pile of fish.

_'Yeah.' _the night fury nodded. _'Want some?'_

"No," Hiccup laughed - Toothless loved to offer him raw fish, despite knowing full well that he would never accept it. Perhaps that was the reason why; he was being polite, and he knew he wouldn't have to give up any of his meal.

"We have some more fish for you."

Hiccup looked over to the source of the monotonous voice, concerned to find that the twins were the ones speaking. _Wait..._

"Did you use your mind control on them?" Hiccup asked accusingly.

_'No?' _Toothless denied hopefully. Hiccup frowned pointedly. _'Okay, so maybe I did. Just a little bit. And they asked for it! Literally, they said -'_

"I don't care what they said." Hiccup said patiently, like he was talking to a small child. "Let them go. Now."

Toothless looked over at the twins, then back to Hiccup. He pouted. _'No.' _he refused petulantly.

"Toothless..." Hiccup said warningly.

Toothless huffed. Why should he let Hiccup tell him what to do? Never mind that he was right - Toothless was the alpha! He could do what he wanted! _Go back to your job._

Hiccup nodded blankly and left Toothless to eat his next lot of fish in peace. While he was at it...

_Go and slap Snotlout, then you're done._

* * *

Valka found Hiccup by the side of a house, calmly walking into the side of it repeatedly.

"Hiccup?" she asked tentatively, walking slowly up behind him with deliberately heavy steps. "What're you doing?"

Hiccup didn't respond, not even when Valka waved a hand in front of his blank face.

"You okay?" Valka pressed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder, and he blinked.

"What..." he asked slowly, looking around himself in confusion. "Toothless." he said darkly once he'd gained his bearings.

"Toothless?" Valka echoed. What did the night fury have to do with this?

"He used his mind control on me, because I told him to stop using it on the twins." Hiccup explained. "Honestly, he's so immature sometimes..."

Valka smiled at that, remembering all of the immature things Hiccup himself had done in the few months she'd been back in his presence. But still, abusing his powers was a cause for concern.

"I'll help you. We're going to need a blindfold."

* * *

Hiccup sat patiently behind his tree, listening out for Cloudjumper's signal. It was the dragon's job to lure the other out into the forest, where both Hiccup and Valka lay in wait, with a blindfold each. The plan had stated being put into action ten minutes ago, and there was still no noise other than the occasional rustle of leaves when the wind swept past them.

_'Now!' _Cloudjumper yelled, from a spot quite far from Hiccup. Cloudjumper had gone closer to Valka's hiding spot first.

"You couldn't have come up with a better signal?" Hiccup said as he wandered out from behind the tree. Valka had successful wrestled Toothless to the ground, using the element of surprise, and the blindfold was securely in place. "Something a tad (less bvious)?"

Cloudjumper huffed indignantly. _'It worked, didn't it?'_

Hiccup shrugged. "Okay, time for Valka's story."

"This is a story for your benefit, Toothless, so you'd better listen." Valka advised, ignoring the night fury's irritated wriggling under her hold. "It's about an alpha who abused their power too often, using their mind control to get other dragons to do things for them. Can you guess what happened to them?"

_'They got really lazy?' _Toothless guessed sarcastically.

"No. They started to get power-hungry. They demanded more and more of the dragons under their care, ruling over their territory with fear, and forcing the dragons to go to more and more desperate measures to get food for their alpha."

Hiccup frowned; this story sounded awfully familiar.

"In the end, the only way to stop the reign of terror was by killing the alpha. It was done by a young Viking and a night fury - you might be familiar with them. And you might know the alpha, too: the Red Death?"

_'Okay...' _Toothless said resignedly. _'I'll be more careful with the mind control. Happy now?'_

"Very."


	74. Chapter 74

**A/n: This was suggested by trystrike and a guest (who was probably trystrike - the requests were p much the same - but just in case) and it's really short and for that I apologise. This is the last of the requests now, as the next chapter is another of my own design. (Cue mystery noises - what will the crossover be this time?)**

* * *

Stokehead flew low over the forest, scanning the trees below and judging which would be best to use as firewood. Part of his job was to do as such, now that he was a proper resident of Berk, and he took pride in it. That was why he only selected the best firewood - or maybe the second best, if it was being supplied to Snotlout.

A flicker of movement below him caught his eye. It wasn't big enough to be a dragon, but he was certain that it wouldn't be an animal, either, given that most of those had been driven away from Berk once the dragons took permanent residence there.

Cautiously curious, Stokehead dipped down and landed a small way away from the intruder. Now that he had a closer look, he could identify them as speed stingers. _Well, good to know. _Stokehead thought, preparing to take off now that he knew there wasn't a threat.

Wait, speed stingers? Stokehead remembered how they'd gone down the last time they'd ended up on Berk. _Better get rid of them, then._

_'What're you doing here?' _he asked; better to be safe than sorry, and he needed to know exactly how to deal with them.

_'We run. Bad Viking chase.'_

Well, that was certainly informative. Short and to the point, definitely.

_'Okay...' _he said, thinking it over. _'Do you promise to stay away from Vikings?'_

_'Bad Viking chase.' _the leader repeated. Stokehead decided to take that as a yes.

_'Right. I'll help you get a shelter started - Gothi said there'd be a storm today -' _in fact, if Stokehead paused in his speech, he could almost hear Bucket's screams - _'so you'll need one of those. And a fire... you guys can do fire, right?'_

_'Bad Viking chase.'_

_'Good for you. Not exactly the answer I was looking for, though...'_

* * *

_'This okay?' _Stokehead asked. As soon as he did, he knew that the reply would be the same as it had been an hour previously, but he said it anyway. He and the speed stingers - it was mostly his work, but he wasn't complaining - had managed to find a suitable cave, and Stokehead had started them a fire, because he wasn't sure if they had the presence of mind to set one, even if they could. _'Bye then.'_

_'Bad Viking chase.'_

_'Yeah, you do that.'_

Stokehead backed out of the cave, checking around himself quickly to make sure that no one was about to find the small dragons already - he didn't much want to be caught helping them, after the fiasco of last time.

The timberjack flew off, not noticing the Viking hiding behind a nearby tree. Hiccup smiled to himself as he watched the cave's entrance, happy that someone had helped the speed stingers out. And if Stokehead wasn't going to say anything about it, then he wouldn't either.


	75. Chapter 75

**A/n: Hi guys! I'm here with the latest (and last) instalment of Dragons: Oneshots of Berk! (Cue teary farewell and emotional speeches.)  
Anyway, sorry this is later than usual - the whole thing deleted itself and I lost like an hour's worth of work, which was also everything that I'd written up to that point... not fun. But I'm done now, so take that irritating laptop crashes!**

**Ahem. Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who reviewed/favourited/followed/read this, you're great!**

**EDIT: Dang, forgot to mention that How to Train Your Avengers will be coming out on the 27th, because 27 is the best number and 'cause I can. Well, now you know, so you can keep an eye out for that one.**

**Now, enjoy the chapter...**

* * *

Hiccup blinked. One second, he'd been settling down to sleep, just closing his eyes, then a wave of disorientation hit him and he was suddenly standing in what appeared to be the underneath of a tree.

In front of him was a boy, looking about the age Hiccup had been when he'd first met Toothless and staring intently at Hiccup. He was crouched slightly, tensed ready to strike.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, before Hiccup could try to explain. Not that he had anything _to _explain.

"I..." Hiccup was lost. "I don't know... where am I?"

"Think he's a spy?" a girl over at the edge of the room asked. "Want me to interrogate him?"

"No thanks." the boy said. "Where did you come from?"

Finally, something he knew. "Berk." he said confidently. That elicited strange looks from the trio. _What did I say wrong?_

"Berk?" the boy repeated, suspicious and surprised at once with his eyebrows raising to merge with his unruly ginger hair.

"Yeah, Berk." Hiccup confirmed, a bit confused. "Best kept secret this side of anywhere? Home to the dragon riders? Um... the chief's Hiccup?"

"No he's not." a different boy, just as scrawny as the other inhabitants of the strange tree-house, said, in a tone which heavily implied that he thought of Hiccup as stupid. "_That's _Hiccup right there, and he's anything _but _the chief."

"What?" Hiccup frowned. "No, _I'm _Hiccup! And I _am _the chief - who else was going to take over after Stoick died? _Snotlout?"_

"Yes." the other boy - Hiccup, apparently - deadpanned. It was his turn to be confused."That's who's chief. And Stoick's still alive."

"I watched him die, I think I'd know." Hiccup assured them, voice taking an aggressive tone.

"Really?" the girl asked, slightly concerned now. "Who did it? Was it Alvin, or the witch, or one of the Dragon Furious's dragon army?"

"It was none of those because he _didn't die." _the other Hiccup snapped. "Who are you really?"

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Hiccup answered, not sure what to think anymore. "Chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, dragon master... who are _you?"_

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third..." there was a definite hint of confusion to the younger boy's voice now, "Not the heir anymore; I got the slave - no, _dragon _mark. And I'm no dragon master... I can't even get Toothless to put his coat on!"

Hiccup sat down, head in one hand as he tried to think the situation over. "I'd say you were a past version of myself... but that can't be right." He shook his head. "When I was your age I was just meeting Toothless, and we spent all our time in the cove so that no one saw him and tried to kill him..."

"Why would they kill him?" the other Hiccup asked, crouching down so that they were at the same level.

"Because that's what everyone did!" Hiccup explained. "Killed dragons on sight? Thought they were only trying to steal our food and kill our people?"

"Well, we never let something as small as _that _stop us!" the girl said proudly. "Us Bog-Burglars get the fiercest and most dangerous dragons!"

"Yes, Camicazi." the other Hiccup said tiredly. "We've got the same name, and the same home, but completely different lives..."

"Not _completely," _Hiccup corrected, "We still have - had - Stoick... do you have Gobber? Valka?"

"Yes and no. Who's Valka?"

"My mother..." Hiccup frowned again. "Have you not met her yet? I didn't until I was twenty, so..."

"What? No! My... my mum's Valhallarama, not Valka. And she might be off questing a lot, but she's still there!"

"Oh... lucky you, then." Hiccup grumbled.

"Yes, so lucky," not-quite-a-younger-Hiccup responded with biting sarcasm, "to be hunted by two armies and have to become the king of the Wilderwest."

"Wilderwest?" Hiccup echoed. "Never heard of it. And never been chased by armies, either... unless you count the times Alvin turned up trying to kidnap me, but that never really worked..."

"You have an Alvin too?" the boy sat on a bed asked - what was his name? Was he supposed to be someone Hiccup knew - in surprise.

"He's probably not dead-set on killing you, is he?" other Hiccup guessed. Hiccup shook his head.

"Well, good for you." the boy on the bed snapped, "You get the prize of not having to hide in a crummy tree so that no one kills you."

"It's not crummy, Fishlegs," Camicazi chided. "it's just a bit cramped. But us Bog-Burglars have no problems with _that!"_

Fishlegs and Hiccup rolled their eyes. "So... what now?" the ginger boy asked.

"Ooh! The other Hiccup could tell us all about his adventures!" Camicazi suggested happily.

"What makes you think he's had adventures?" Fishlegs asked. "He hasn't said anything about it..."

"But he has a missing _leg!" _Camicazi enthused. "That _must _mean he's done some really awesome adventuring!"

"Not really..." Hiccup chuckled. "Actually, Toothless gave me that."

"Toothless couldn't do that." the other Hiccup pointed out. "He doesn't have any _teeth."_

_'Toothless _could!' a small voice from beneath Hiccup's clothes protested. A small green dragon popped his head out and flew over to the other version of his human friend. He pretended to take massive bites of the metal leg with his gums.

"_That's _Toothless?" Hiccup laughed. "Wow, he really doesn't have teeth."

_'Toothless is toothless dragon.' _the small dragon said proudly, puffing his chest out. _'Toothless is most important thing.'_

"Most important thing?" Hiccup looked questioningly over at his counterpart.

"You speak Dragonese?" was the reply. Then, after a few seconds of thought in which the other Hiccup decided that that wasn't actually such a big surprise: "The king's things are these objects that Grimbeard the Ghastly used to own. They're the things you need to become the king of the Wilderwest."

"Ah." Hiccup hummed in thought. "My Toothless is a night fury. People used to call them the 'unholy offspring of lightning and death itself', and he's the fastest dragon on Berk. Also the alpha. So, I suppose being one of the king's things would've been a bit overkill."

The other Hiccup nodded in agreement, not getting to speak as Camicazi butted in: "Why are we talking about boring things? I want to know how you lost your leg!"

"Okay..." Hiccup closed his eyes as he remembered the events. "I'll start at the beginning, on the night of the last dragon raid on Berk..."

* * *

**'T****was set just before the events of How to Betray a Dragon's Hero, btw.**


End file.
